The Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of Korea paid a courtesy call to His Majesty King Letsie III at the Royal Palace in Maseru on Friday. The delegation also paid a courtesy call to Prime Minister, Mr. Samuel Ntsokaoane Matekane at the State House.

In an interview, the Head of the delegation, Mr. Heong-Joon Park said the main purpose of the visit is to ask Lesotho to support Korea to host World Expo 2030. He said it also intended to strengthen the bilateral corporation between the two countries.

Mr. Park said the two countries had a diplomatic relationship since 1996, saying these two countries can be good partners and they can both benefit from the good relations.

He stressed that Korea is willing to help Lesotho in the manufacturing of textiles and digital systems.

Also speaking, the Minister of Foreign affairs and International Relations, Mr. Lejone Mpotjoane said during the meeting the Korean delegation promised to help Lesotho with the customs modernization project.

He said Korea promised to help Lesotho produce enough electricity with its natural resources for its people and export it to the neighbouring countries.

He stressed that among others they talked about improving agriculture and textile manufacturing.

He mentioned that the Republic of Korea (Busan), Italy (Rome), Ukraine (Odesa) and Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) will be competing to host the world expo 2030, saying Lesotho will vote for the country which they have better bilateral relations with.

The 38-member delegation comprised the Mayor of Busan, Mr. Heong-Joon Park, the CEO of Samsung Electronics Africa, Mr. Bumsuk Hong and investors.

By Staff Reporter: Maphoka Likotsi