South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced on Tuesday that the country is interested in cooperation with African nations to secure a stable mineral supply and to speed up negotiations to promote economic partnerships and trade growth.
At the meeting with African leaders, he announced a significant increase of $10 billion development aid for Africa over the next six years as it looks to tap the continent’s rich mineral resources and potential export market.
“We will seek sustainable ways to work together on issues directly related to future growth, such as stable supplies of key minerals and digital transformation,”Yoon said.
He pledged to further offer $14 billion in loans specifically meant to promote South Korean businesses invest and trade in Africa.
South Korea is one of the world’s largest energy buyers and is home to leading semiconductor producers which also rely heavily on energy imports,he said.
He added that South Korea has big tech companies like Hyundai looking to expand in electric vehicles, Africa could be a key partner on both fronts.
He further added that Partnering with Africa, which has 30 percent of the world’s reserves of critical minerals including chrome, cobalt and manganese, is crucial.
Over 30 African leaders representing 48 countries were present at the summit. A joint statement is expected to be released soon by the South Korean president ,Yoon and the head of the African Union, Mauritania President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani.
Yoon proposed “shared growth” as a stronghold of cooperation with the African countries. He stressed the need to establish a framework to promote trade and exchange, vowed to speed up agreement for economic partnership, trade and investment promotion.
South Korea offered to help Africa, develop its industries and technology in other to tap into a vast and fast-growing market that is home to 1.4 billion people, the majority of whom are 25 or younger.
Former South Korean ambassador to South Africa and Uganda , Park Jong-dae, argued that past approaches from Western countries and China haven’t been effective, and South Korea’s experience offers a new way forward for African nations.
“The essence of Korean model of development cooperation is human development, and about management, rather than about provision of assistance per se,”he said.
“Korea has the experience and knowhow of development … while many African countries have immense possibilities for development based on yet to be explored, untapped resources and endowment, and dynamic young population,”he concluded.
Boluwatife Enome
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