Korea-Africa Cooperation
South Korean Deputy Prime Minister Yoo Il-ho met with African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi Adesina in Seoul on March 28.
At their meeting, they agreed to work closely together for the success of the upcoming Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation Ministerial Conference, share South Korea’s experience of economic growth with African countries and cooperate in order to maximize their growth potentials. In addition, they discussed how to collaborate in the five fields of energy, food, industrialization, regional integration and welfare, which constitute the long-term focuses of the AfDB.
In the meantime, the South Korean Ministry of Strategy & Finance is currently engaged in a US$400,000 project for the development of African rural areas and a US$1 million project for subway system redesign in Cairo, Egypt in the framework of the 2015/2016 Action Plan that includes specific measures for economic cooperation between South Korea and the AfDB.
The South Korean government’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), which assists in the establishment of economic and social infrastructure in developing countries, provided African countries with syndicated loans worth US$270 million with the AfDB until the end of last year. The ministry is planning to launch more EDCF projects, amounting to US$600 million in total, in Africa until 2018.