South Korea and Tanzania held talks Tuesday on opening a Tanzanian embassy in Seoul and other ways to enhance bilateral ties, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1992, but the African nation has yet to open an embassy in South Korea due to budgetary constraints, a ministry official said. The South Korean embassy in Tanzania was opened in 1992.
Kwon Hee-seog, director-general of the ministry's Bureau for African and Middle Eastern Affairs, met with his Tanzanian counterpart, Mbelwa Kairuki, director of the department of Asia and Australasia, in Seoul for talks on deepening ties in politics, trade and investment, development and global issues.
"Opening a Tanzanian embassy in Seoul has been a pending issue for three years," the official told Yonhap News Agency on condition of anonymity. "Currently, the Tanzanian embassy in Japan oversees Korea."
During the talks, the two sides also discussed South Korea's participation in infrastructure projects in Tanzania, including South Korea's plan to build a bridge in Dar es Salaam. The bridge is expected to drastically reduce traveling time in the city center.
"Tanzania could serve as a distribution hub in East Africa and help transport to inland areas," the official said. (Yonhap)
