Seychelles and South Korea reaffirm commitment to bilateral relations |25 May 2023

Minister Radegonde welcoming Ambassador Seokhee to the Maison Quéau de Quinssy

Seychelles is committed to working with South Korea to enhance bilateral relations and international collaboration.

The assurance was made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde, during a courtesy call by the ambassador of the Republic of Korea, Kang Seokhee, on Tuesday this week at the Maison Quéau de Quinssy.

During their meeting, the diplomats discussed the resumption of the Seychelles-Korea Joint

Commission on Bilateral Cooperation (JCC). As the last session was held in Seychelles, the next JCC will take place in the capital of South Korea, Seoul. A tentative date has been proposed by South Korea for Seychelles’ consideration.

Ambassador Seokhee also iterated President Yoon Suk-yeol wishes to strengthen engagement with Africa through the upcoming Korea-Africa Summit scheduled for mid-2024.

Matters related to multilateralism, cooperation between Seychelles and South Korea, and other

international matters of interest to both countries were also discussed. Among which was the advocacy of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI), whereby Minister Radegonde explained that “although Seychelles is considered as a country of high GDP per capita, we need to consider its challenges and vulnerabilities as a small island developing state to factors such as climate change, size of the country and pandemics like Covid-19”.

Minister Radegonde went on to add that through the adoption of the MVI, “Seychelles is merely seeking for a fair chance to gain access to the concessional financing that we need for adaptation, mitigation and resilience and to improve our service debts by providing debt sustainability”.

Other topics discussed were the importance of connectivity between the two countries and South Korea as a potential tourism market for Seychelles.

Press release from the department of Foreign Affairs