Writer: Shin Hyun-hee
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea will step up cooperation with African international locations to make sure secure provides of key minerals and velocity up negotiations to advertise financial partnerships and commerce, President Yun Seok-yeol stated on Tuesday.
Presiding over its first summit with leaders of 48 African international locations, Yoon stated South Korea will improve growth help to Africa to $10 billion over the subsequent six years because it appears to be like to use the continent’s wealthy mineral sources and as an enormous export market. potential.
“We are going to search sustainable methods to collaborate on points instantly associated to future progress, similar to secure provides of essential minerals and digital transformation,” Yoon stated in his opening remarks.
He additionally pledged to supply $14 billion in export financing to advertise commerce and funding by Korean corporations in African international locations.
South Korea is among the world’s largest vitality patrons and residential to a number one semiconductor producer. It is also residence to Hyundai Motor Group, the world’s fifth-largest automaker, which is making an enormous push in direction of electrification.
Yoon’s workplace stated cooperation with Africa is essential as Africa holds 30% of the world’s reserves of key minerals similar to chromium, cobalt and manganese.
At the least 30 heads of state attended the summit, and delegations from 48 international locations participated. Yin and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ouled Gazouani, chairman of the African Union, will situation a joint assertion, Yin’s workplace stated.
Yin proposed “shared progress” as a pillar of cooperation with the African continent and harassed the necessity to set up a framework to advertise commerce and exchanges, vowing to hurry up negotiations on an financial partnership settlement and a commerce and funding promotion framework.
By offering assist with industrial infrastructure and digital transformation, South Korea is attempting to faucet into a big and fast-growing market of 1.4 billion folks, most of whom are 25 or youthful.
Park Chung-dae, former South Korean ambassador to South Africa and Uganda, believes that Western and Chinese language growth fashions have failed African international locations, and South Korea gives a beneficial various path.
“The essence of South Korea’s growth cooperation mannequin is human growth and administration, not the availability of help itself,” he stated.
“South Korea has the expertise and know-how to develop… whereas many African international locations have big growth potential primarily based on unexplored, untapped sources and endowments and dynamic younger populations,” he stated.
On Wednesday, South Korean enterprise leaders will host a enterprise summit targeted on funding, industrial growth and meals safety.
Yin will proceed to carry separate conferences with visiting leaders.
