On the occasion of the National Day of the Republic of Belarus and the 23rd anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Belarus, Ambassador Natallia Zhylevich of Belarus in Seoul hosted a reception at Lotte Hotel on June 26, 2015.
In spite of the fear of MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) spreading in Korea, many Korean and international guests attended the party to congratulate the Belarusian ambassador as well as the auspicious occasion of Belarus and the two countries.
Among the Korean guests were Deputy Minister and Ambassador for Climate Change Jai-chul Choi, Professor Lee Eun-jae and President of the Korea Institute of Public Administration.
Among the international guests were many mission chiefs who included (in alphabetical order) Ambassadors Jorge Roballo of Argentina, Guadalupe Palomeque de Taboada of Bolivia, Petar Andonov of Bulgaria, Tito Saul Pinilla Pinilla of Colombia, Jario Lopez of Costa Rica (CDA), Sylvestre Kouassi Bile of Cote d'Ivoire, Tomas Husak of Czech Republic, Hany Moawad Selim Labib of Egypt, Dibaba Abdetta (Dr.) of Ethiopia, Nikoloz Apkhazava of Georgia, Gustavo Adolfo Lopez Calderon of Guatemala, Khalil Ismai Abdul Sahib Al-Mosawi of Iraq, Duishonkul Chotonov of Kyrgyzstan, Dlias Nicolas of Lebanon (CDA), Ganbold Baasanjav of Mongolia, Clare Patricia Fearnley of New Zealand, Bill Veri of Papua New Guinea, Perla Garcia Cristaldo of Paraguay (CDA), Raul S. Hernandez of the Philippines, Alexander Andreevich Tomonin of Russia, Mamadou Ndiaye of Senegal, Kiromov Salohiddin of Tajikistan (CDA), Mohamed Ali Nafti of Tunisia, Hakan Okcal of Turkey, Myrat Mammetalyyev of Turkmenistan, Dr. Alba Florio Legnani of Uruguay and Botirjon Asadov of Uzbekistan.
Speaking to the guests, Ambassador Zhylevich of Belarus said, “Joint efforts aimed at facilitating political dialogue, strengthening economic ties, expanding people-to-people contacts as well as deepening mutual understanding and supporting each other at the international arena have been making Belarus and Korea closer to each other.” (See excerpts from speech at the end of this Article.)
In response to her speech, Deputy Minister Choi said: “Korea and Belarus have many things in common. The two countries have achieved a rapid economic development while they had not much natural resources. However, they are hard-working peoples and a well-trained manpower, with which they have successfully overcome such difficulties.
“Furthermore, Korea and Belarus are told apart from other countries of the world in ‘white color.’ The Belarusian people are a people of while color of skin. The Korean people are called Baekui Minjok, people wearing white clothes. The white color for Korean and Belarusian peoples means that they love peace and that they have a pure and noble mind.
“Thanks to these traits of the two peoples, they are have been continuously widening the range of cooperation and friendship since 1992, and attaining outstanding results in various fields in the last several years.”
The party also provided the guests with a good opportunity to enjoy the traditional foods and beverages of Belarus, which included canap? with the brown bread of Belarus.
Excerpts from the speech of Ambassador Zhylevich:
It is my honor to welcome you at the Reception on the occasion of the National Day of the Republic of Belarus.
This day marks the 23rd year of the diplomatic relations between the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Korea.
We are very much contented with positive dynamics in bilateral cooperation that we have witnessed these years. Joint efforts aimed at facilitating political dialogue, strengthening economic ties, expanding people-to-people contacts as well as deepening mutual understanding and supporting each other at the international arena have been making Belarus and Korea closer to each other.
Today we observe sustainable progress in bilateral trade, implementation of numerous projects in fundamental science and technology, active students’ exchange.
My special thanks go to Professor Lee Eun-jae, President of the Korea Institute of Public Administration. Thanks to Professor Lee’s attention and indefatigable efforts of her team we have stepped up developing a pilot project on lecturing e-government to public officials. This adds a new dimension to the bilateral e-government cooperation. We appreciate greatly generosity with which colleagues from KIPA share with us their experience and knowledge.
The year 2015 would be marked as a move forward in bolstering grounds for cooperation in R&D.
Team work in R&D covers ICT (information and communication technologies), nano-technologies, bio-technologies, brain science, new materials, and renewable resources. In a word, mutually advantageous projects in innovations and state-of-the-art technologies which make up the core of the creative economy.
We are looking forward to regular meetings of Belarusian and Korean researchers. The 4th Belarus-Korea Forum on science and innovation is to be held in Seoul next autumn. Good perspective lies ahead of the Belarus-Korea ICT Center which was established last April. We hope it acquires regional scope.
I would like to thank our friends from the Seoul City Administration as well as from Pocheon City for their unwavering work aimed at supporting mutually beneficial ties among the twin cities in the two countries.
Now that the Eurasia Economic Union opens up new opportunities, removes barriers and broadens the geography of trade and economic cooperation, we are looking with new hope at a most impressive project in this part of the world. I am sure that visa wavering which is under consideration would contribute to it substantially.
I am sure that with your invaluable support we will open a new era of dynamic relations between Belarus and Korea.