Bolivia highlights economic cooperation with Korea at 197th Independence Day

Bolivia remembered the sacrifices of martyrs, presented the country’s potential and highlighted economic cooperation with South Korea at a celebration of its 197th Independence Day in Seoul on Friday.

Bolivian Independence Day commemorates the signing of a declaration of independence from Spain on August 6, 1825.

Bolivia was a Spanish colony from 1532-1825.

Evaluating Bolivia-Korea relations in his remarks, Charge d’Affaires to South Korea Luis Pablo Sebastian Ossio-Bustillos touched on the decades-long growth of economic relations that led Bolivia to reach an accumulated trade balance of more than 2.5 billion dollars from zinc and lead exports. and silver minerals, as well as non-traditional products such as Brazil nuts, alcohol and coffee.

According to Ossio-Bustillos, such items have allowed Bolivia to record $301 million in exports to Korea in the first half of the year, while imports from Korea totaled $34 million.

Bolivia is also working with South Korean entities to expand the country’s industrial capacity, through projects such as a $900 million project led by Samsung Engineering to build an ammonia and urea fertilizer plant in Cochabamba.

“The plant will produce 600,000 tons of urea in 2022, managing 85 percent of export-oriented capacity for the Brazilian and Peruvian markets,” the envoy said, adding that Bolivia expects to raise a record $350 million by end of 2022.

Ossio-Bustillos welcomed the financial cooperation of the Eximbank Economic Development Cooperation Fund of Korea to build the longest bridge in Bolivia, Puente Banegas.

The EDCF, launched in 1987, helps less developed countries by providing long-term, low-interest loans.

Korea prioritized Bolivia in the Latin American region to offer valuable development cooperation, Ossio-Bustillos said, citing the Korea International Cooperation Agency as an important partner.

Ossio-Bustillos said that Korean cooperation supports Bolivia’s industrialization process with food security and sovereignty. It also supports provisions for the installation of solar panels, the execution of irrigation programs and the drilling of wells to guarantee drinking water for the entire population.

The International Korean Agriculture Program enabled the improvement of poppy, quinoa, tomato, rice and corn seeds, according to Ossio-Bustillos.

“Korea reopened its embassy in La Paz in 2008 and Bolivia did so in 2014,” Ossio-Bustillos said, congratulating Bolivia and Korea on reducing poverty, eradicating illiteracy and achieving political and social stability.

Highlighting his country’s potential, Ossio-Bustillos said that Bolivia was the least volatile among neighboring countries amid the current international context with landscapes of uncertainty and several multilateral crises.

Bolivia bases growth on domestic demand, which provides stability to the Bolivian economy without social costs due to government subsidies for sensitive bread and gasoline prices, according to Ossio-Bustillos.

“Bread and gasoline products in Bolivia would probably be the cheapest in the world,” he said.

Bolivia, located in the heart of South America, prioritizes the interconnection of its vast territory, as well as improving the infrastructure of roads, bridges, railways, hydroelectric plants and airports, Ossio-Bustillos said.

According to Ossio-Bustillos, Bolivia, a founding member of the Community of Andean Nations with Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, will join the South American trade bloc Mercosur, or the Common Market of the South. Mercosur member states include Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Ossio-Bustillos highlighted Bolivia’s trade balance, solid currency, low inflation of around 1 percent and falling unemployment rate as the country’s great features.

Meanwhile, Choi Jung-uk, director-general for Latin American and Caribbean affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also delivered remarks, stressing the importance of Bolivia to Korea.

Choi highlighted Bolivia as one of the four main Latin American development cooperation partners for sustainable development.

“Korea is trying to take a step closer to Bolivia through Korean culture such as K-pop and K-drama, which Bolivians are interested in,” he said.

Choi added that he hoped that people-to-people and cultural exchanges between Korea and Bolivia, which were suspended due to COVID-19, would resume soon.

By Sanjay Kumar ([email protected])