Actor, Jean-Claude Van Damme has been tasked with promoting the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) globally. He plans to use his celebrity to promote Congolese sport and culture, but most importantly, to improve the protection of forests and native animals and flora.
On behalf of President Félix Tshisekedi, Deputy Foreign Minister Samy Adubango presented the Belgian actor with the passport. The DRC seeks to put climate change at the centre of international discussions and provide answers to global warming.
Not only will the Belgian actor focus on climate change, but he will also be in charge of luring in additional investors, particularly in the agriculture sector.
In addition, Jean-Claude Van Damme wants to convince fellow celebrities that the DRC is a safe country. “I will try to convince Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan and many others. There are also singers like Jennifer Lopez, footballers like Messi, Ronaldinho, and Cristiano Ronaldo, they have to come to this country to show that there is security, showing that Congo can protect showbiz actors,” the actor told Franceinfo.
He included that this mission was voluntarily and he would not be paid. Jean-Claude Van Damme had previously met with the President of the DRC in 2021.
The Belgian actor was born in Brussels on 18 October 1960, where he throughout his childhood practised martial arts. He moved to the United States in 1982 to become an actor and got his breakthrough in the martial arts film Bloodsport (1988).
Van Damme became a popular actor for his action films and his breakthrough was followed by films such as Universal Soldier (1992), Hard Target (1993) and Timecop (1994).
More recently, the actor has been in films including The Expendables (2012), the Kung Fu Panda franchise (2011-2016) and the Kickboxer reboot (2016-2018).