On 19 November 2024 the Founder and Executive Director of ACCORD, Dr Vasu Gounden, hosted Ms Wonnyung Kim, Director of the Research and Information Division, and Mr Haewon Jeong, a Programme Officer in the Research and Information Division, from the Korea-Africa Foundation, at ACCORD House in Durban.
The Korea-Africa Foundation was established in June 2018 as an affiliation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea, with the mission of promoting genuine partnership with the African continent in political, economic, cultural, academic and other various areas. Through various programmes in culture, trade, education, and diplomacy, the foundation works to strengthen ties, foster understanding, and promote mutually beneficial partnerships between these regions.
The meeting provided an opportunity to explore areas for possible future collaboration as well as the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two Institutions.
In December 2023, Dr Gounden was invited to be a virtual speaker at the 06th Seoul Dialogue on Africa (SDA), an annual international conference, initiated in 2018, which was jointly hosted by the Korea-Africa Foundation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea. The SDA focused on critical dialogues on peace and security in Africa, emphasising avenues to fortify collaboration between the two regions. Dr Gounden was also invited in December 2023 to present a virtual lecture entitled “Africa at the Crossroads of History: A Dystopian or Prosperous Future?” that was hosted by the Seoul National University Asia Center (SNU), as part of their Africa Seminar Series. ACCORD has since signed a MoU with the SNU. Over the last several years, ACCORD has also hosted a webinar and a seminar with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in South Africa. The hybrid seminar held in September 2023 was hosted in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea to South Africa, the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business, and the Korea-Africa Foundation.
