The Republic of South Korea has been cooperating with Zimbabwe in various fields of the economy. The Daily News’ Associate Editor Constantine Chimakure sat down with the Asian country’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, DO Bong-kae, pictured, to discuss this and other issues.
Below are excerpts from the interview
Q: Your Excellency, before we delve into your country’s bid for the World Expo 2030, can you tell us the nature of relations between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Zimbabwe?
A: The Republic of Korea and the Republic of Zimbabwe established diplomatic relations in 1994 and my embassy opened in Harare in 1995. Despite their comparatively short ties and geographical distance, the two countries have developed cordial and practical cooperation in diverse areas including Political and Diplomatic cooperation, Economic cooperation and Development cooperation. I can mention many high-level human exchanges between the two countries including cabinet ministers, members of Parliament, including that of the late Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai’s official visit to Korea. Also every year, Zimbabwean students are selected for the KOICA Master’s degree Scholarship programme as part of government to government cooperation.
Q: What has the Republic of Korea done in Zimbabwe or still doing since the two countries established diplomatic relations?
A: The Korean government has prioritised agricultural cooperation with Zimbabwe to restore its title as the bread basket of Africa. In the past decade, research projects have been conducted, on-the-job training and workshops and technical experts have been seconded all focusing on agricultural issues.
To further strengthen cooperation in the agricultural sector, in 2016, the Korean and the Zimbabwean government jointly established the KOPIA (Korea Program for International Cooperation in Agricultural Technology) Zimbabwe to implement numerous projects including providing technology for the production of food and agricultural products. Pilot projects have been undertaken with farmers in Mashonaland East and Mashonaland Central and the results have been interesting.
Even during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic situation, the Republic of Korea and the Republic of Zimbabwe expanded bilateral healthcare cooperation and the Korean government provided Covid-19 test kits valued at US$300 000. In the education sector, the Korean government provided $8 million for the “ICT Transforming Education in Africa” to support the development of ICT education in 3 African countries namely Mozambique, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
Several schools in the country received ICT equipment and teachers from different districts received ICT training under the programme. In addition to the central government level cooperation, Mashonaland Central Province entered a twinning relationship with Korea’s Gyeongsangnamdo Province. Since 2015, Gyeongsangnamdo has played a critical role in sharing Korea’s development experience with Mashonaland Central. The partnership has resulted in schools and clinics in the district receiving support including the main referral hospital in the province. The City of Harare has also entered a twinning arrangement with Cheonan City in Korea and there have been high level exchanges between the two cities that were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. As normalcy returns I hope the two cities will resume their exchanges and cooperation programmes.
I cannot overestimate the importance of the people to people exchange between our two countries. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, around 20 thousands Korean tourists visited Zimbabwe annually. There have been numerous cultural and traditional exchanges between our two countries. Several Korean artists have visited Zimbabwe and conducted training workshops with other artists. The people to people’s exchanges have put a solid foundation in our bilateral relations.
Q: Your Excellency, can you now educate us on what the World Expo is all about and the significance of South Korea hosting it?
A: Expos are global events dedicated to finding solutions to fundamental challenges facing humanity by offering a journey inside a chosen theme through engaging and immersive activities. World Expo 2030, as the first International Registered Exhibition since the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the BIE (International Expo Organization), will serve as an opportunity to reflect on the past 100 years and design the next 100 years. World EXPO 2030 also has a special meaning as it will be held in the year of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Korea has overcome war, poverty, economic crisis, and other difficult challenges to emerge as the world’s 10th largest economy. It is the result of Koreans’ strenuous efforts focusing on education, innovation, and global cooperation. Korea wants to serve the international community by sharing these valuable lessons in the hope that we can help illuminate the way forward for all. And we would like to play a bridging role between developing and developed nations.
Q: What is your country’s proposed theme for the expo?
A: Dramatic and fundamental changes are required to address the global challenges that humanity faces, not partial, gradual ones.
Accordingly, World Expo 2030 in Busan, Korea selected the theme of “Transforming our World, Navigating toward a Better Future” with particular focus on the keyword ‘transformation”. It refers to major innovation that goes beyond just technology. “Transformation” must involve everyone, everywhere. Transforming the way we live is a formidable challenge, but necessary. Busan 2030 aims to be an Expo where everyone is invited to embrace this crucial challenge.
Q: Tell us also about the three proposed sub-themes and their importance?
A: The three sub-themes to help achieve the theme “Transforming our World, Navigating toward a Better Future” are ‘Sustainable Living with Nature’, ‘Technology for Humanity’ and ‘Platform for Caring and Sharing’. The sub-themes are chosen to address the three global challenges: 1) climate change 2) downside of digital transformation 3) inequality among and within nations. Each sub-theme correlates with the three pillars of the SDGs: Planet, Prosperity, and People. Firstly, climate change threatens our very existence. We cannot continue current production and consumption patterns.
World EXPO 2030 Busan aims to serve as a platform to develop solutions to promote ‘sustainable life with nature’. Second, technology has allowed us comfortable lives and it will continue to do so. But it also has downsides such as digital alienation, digital divide and threat to human jobs. We must innovate and share experiences in human-focused technology. Third, the current pandemic taught us that we are all connected. If everyone isn’t safe, then no one is safe. At the same time, rapid globalisation, extreme weather changes and the tech paradigm shift have all accelerated polarization in our society. The world must take better care of all its members and we must share if we are to prosper together. World Expo 2030 Busan will provide an opportunity for humanity to navigate toward a better future by discussing ways to decrease various forms of inequalities among nations and within nations and ways to create a global social safety net. 6. What are South Korea’s competitive advantages against other bidders? Why should the expo be held in Busan? As one of the ten largest economies in the world, Korea is a global Information and Communications Technology (ICT) powerhouse. Korea is leading the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution with technologies in the fields of Artificial Intelligence host the World Expo and powerful potential to realize the ideal of the BIE and World Expo.
Q: Does the Republic of Korea have any programme to support the developing countries’ participation in the Expo?
A: With the theme in mind, Korea will formulate a comprehensive assistance program on how we can support developing countries and encourage their active and valuable participation in the Expo. We believe that the Expo should work as an event that stimulates the curiosity and interest of people from around the world. Such assistance programmes will be provided to nations which fall within the internationally recognized categories, and include the construction of pavilions, holding pre-events as well as providing support of communications, travel and lodging expenses, and other forms of assistance during the event, to name a few. I know that Zimbabwe successfully hosted its pavilion at the Dubai EXPO 2020 and attracted many businessmen and tourists. I think World Expo 2030 in Busan will give a wonderful opportunity to Zimbabwe to showcase its open for business policy and Vision 2030 to East Asia and beyond. The details of various assistance programmes for developing countries are being developed to submit to the Secretariat of the BIE and circulated in the near future.
