S. Korea, Sierra Leone sign MOU on boosting trade

President Yoon Suk Yeol held talks with Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio on Friday to discuss ways to boost trade and investment between the two countries, the presidential office said. Bio was in Seoul to attend the South Korea-Africa summit scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Friday's meeting was the first of 25 summit meetings Yoon plans to hold on the sidelines of the inaugural conference. During their luncheon meeting at the presidential office, Yoon and Bio agreed to cooperate in education, public health and food security to step up the bilateral ties, officials said. The two leaders also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the Trade and Investment Promotion Framework (TIPF), a nonbinding agreement aimed at practical cooperation in trade, investment and energy. In November, South Korea launched the "K-rice belt" initiative with eight African nations, including Sierra Leone, to provide them with quality rice varieties and share its farming know-how, Yoon and Bio also dis cussed ways to bolster cooperation on the global stage, as both countries have been elected as non-permanent members of the U.N. Security Council for 2024-25. In 2020, Sierra Leone reported North Korean vessels registered in the nation as violations of U.N. Security Council sanctions on the North. Friday's meeting marks their second gathering, following their first meeting in New York in September 2023 on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Source: Yonhap News Agency