Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Burundi
On May 21, 2024, the Ambassador of the Republic of Burundi in Beijing, His Excellency Mr Telesphore Irambona presented his letters of credence to His Excellency Yoon Suk Yeol, President of the Republic of Korea.
The Republic of Korea was proclaimed on August 15, 1948. It is one of the newly industrialized countries and among the Asian dragons which were able to develop their respective economies in record time. Its Gross National Product (GNP) is estimated at 12,646 US dollars. The most developed industries concern the electronic communication (Internet and mobile phones), shipbuilding, textiles, automobiles, agriculture, minerals and fishing.
Korea is a highly educated country and has many graduates and intellectuals. The school enrollment rate is 90% while the literacy rate is 96%.
The diplomatic relations between Burundi and South Korea were established on October 3, 1991. The Minister of Foreign Relations and Cooperation of Burundi, Ambassador Cyprien MBONIMPA made an official visit to the Republic of Korea in February 1992, thus marking the start of cooperation between the two countries. From the start of those diplomatic relations, the Government of Burundi proposed the establishment of a legal framework for cooperation. In 2006, Burundi and the Republic of South Korea exchanged two draft Agreements, namely: a draft Economic, Technical and Scientific Cooperation Agreement; a draft Agreement concerning the program for sending Korean volunteers to Burundi.
The Korean Ambassador to Burundi with residence in Dar-es-Salam visited Burundi regularly during the inauguration of the President of the Republic in August 2005. The Minister of Information, Communication, Relations with Parliament and Government Spokesperson at the time participated at the first Korea-Africa Forum Summit, held in November 2006 in Seoul, and represented Burundi at the head of a delegation. The Government of Burundi participated in the Korean week dedicated to the cooperation between Africa and Korea from October 15 to 18, 2012 in Busan, through a delegation composed of two senior executives from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Planning.
It should be reminded that the Republic of Korea has developed two important supports for its international cooperation policy the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the Korea-Africa Forum. The Republic of Korea recently announced that it intends attracting immigration by granting the visas to the foreigners in order to cope with the depopulation of the rural areas and the lack of the human resources for certain regions from October 2022.The Burundi should take advantage of that by initiating the strategic contacts in order to benefit from that offer within the framework of the new migrant employment policy. Burundi should also open a resident diplomatic mission of Burundi in the Republic of Korea to be able to maximize the benefits offered by the Korean cooperation.