Afrigather African governments and establishments gathered in Seoul from June 4-5, 2024, for the inaugural Korea-Africa Summit to be taught from Korea’s exceptional financial transformation and forge stronger partnerships for sustainable progress. The African Growth Financial institution featured prominently within the proceedings, with President Dr Akinwumi Adesina main a high-powered delegation to debate methods to deepen cooperation between Korea and Africa underneath the theme “The Future We Make Collectively: Shared Development, Sustainability, and Solidarity.”
On the opening session attended by heads of state and government, President Adesina delivered a powerful statement acknowledging Korea’s financial transformation from a struggling nation to a affluent one inside a technology. He urged African international locations to seek out inspiration within the Korean story and pointed to the 42-year-old relationship between the Financial institution and the Republic of Korea, which has contributed round USD 800 million in investments to the Financial institution. Adesina known as on the Korean authorities to extend its help by contributing to the following spherical of replenishment of the African Growth Fund and different landmark funding initiatives of the Financial institution.
Past discuss to motion
The dedication to cooperation was concretized on the summit’s sidelines. The Financial institution signed two key agreements with Korean authorities businesses: a Memorandum of Understanding with the Korea Commerce Insurance coverage Company (Ok-SURE), an export credit score company, and a Letter of Intent with the Korea Abroad Infrastructure and City Growth Company, “for cooperation to foster infrastructure and concrete improvement in African international locations.”
On the eve of the Summit’s opening day, President Adesina met with the Korean Minister of Agriculture, Meals and Rural Affairs, Track Mi-ryung, for the primary time. He expressed his delight at assembly Track, who can be an agricultural economist.
“I’ve in Korea an agricultural economist with whom I can converse the identical language, and we perceive one another,” he stated.
Local weather change featured prominently within the discussions, acknowledged as a shared and urgent challenge–extreme climate patterns in every single place from Kenya to Korea are affecting agricultural manufacturing and disrupting the lives and livelihoods of farmers and the bigger inhabitants.
It was agreed that the answer was to accentuate the rollout of good agriculture, which includes new and rising applied sciences that enable for higher predictions of local weather patterns, greater high quality information for farmers, and fewer water utilization, amongst different benefits to conventional farming.
Success tales
Adesina enumerated the Financial institution’s in depth work in agriculture to Track, beginning with”Feed Africa”, one of many Excessive-5s priorities he launched when he took workplace in 2015.
“The Financial institution has a Feed Africa Technique, and we’re placing $25 billion into agriculture over a 10-year interval,” he stated.
He went on to share varied agricultural initiatives by the Financial institution:
- TAAT (Applied sciences for African Agricultural Transformation), which, by offering heat-tolerant wheat varieties to farmers in Ethiopia, has allowed the nation to grow to be self-sufficient in wheat manufacturing inside 5 years.
- The FEED Africa Summit in Dakar in January 2023, which mobilized $72 billion in funding commitments from international locations and improvement companions.
- Particular Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) being developed in 22 websites throughout 11 African international locations.
- The Empowering Novel Agri-Enterprise-Led Employment (ENABLE) Youth program, which has invested about $500 million in 15 African international locations, to draw younger folks into agriculture.
- The $650 million Regional West Africa Rice Growth (REWARD) program, in 16 international locations.
Minister Track praised agriculture as one of many areas chargeable for Korea’s financial transformation from aid-recipient to donor-country. Having achieved self-sufficiency in rice manufacturing, Korea is now keenly aiding African international locations to do the identical, she added.
On the G7 Summit in 2023, Korea launched its K-Ricebelt initiative to offer high-yielding rice seeds to African international locations, with plans to develop the variety of beneficiaries.
“There’s an ideal synergy between Ok-RICE and our REWARD program,” Adesina responded. “You’ll be able to depend on 100% help and partnership from the African Growth Financial institution. Between Korea and the Financial institution, we are able to make Africa utterly self-sufficient in rice.”
Priorities for the longer term
Minister Track and President Adesina confused the significance of deepening bilateral cooperation.
Track described Korea’s three priorities in agriculture–digital transformation, generational transformation, and regional transformation.
For President Adesina, the Financial institution’s new Ten-12 months Technique, authorized by the Board in April, envisions scaling-up funding in agriculture to speed up financial progress and prosperity throughout Africa.
Areas recognized by Track and Adesina for quick cooperation embody rice worth chain improvement in Africa, elevated bilateral trade of agricultural information and data, coaching and capability constructing for African farmers, and expertise switch to Africa, together with in hydroponics, the place Korea has grow to be a world chief.
Korea-Africa Agricultural Discussion board: “Agricultural Unity Throughout Korea and Africa”
The next day, the Financial institution participated in an agricultural discussion board, co-hosted by the Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Meals and Rural Affairs, and the Rural Growth Administration.
Osamu Kawanishi, Director of the Financial institution’s Asia Exterior Illustration Workplace, introduced a paper and took part in a panel dialogue that includes officers from a bunch of worldwide agencies–Meals and Agriculture Group of the United Nations, Worldwide Fund for Agricultural Growth, World Meals Program, Inexperienced Local weather Fund, and the Africa Rice Middle.
Kawanishi’s presentation famous current bilateral cooperation between the Korean Authorities and the Financial institution, by way of the Korea-Africa Financial Cooperation (KOAFEC) Belief Fund.
KOAFEC was established by the federal government of Korea and is managed by the African Growth Financial institution. Since inception, it has made $10 million accessible in loans and grants to help agriculture initiatives on the continent.
Kawanishi additionally recognized varied alternatives for added investments in African agriculture, based mostly on the Financial institution’s goal of mobilizing the financing required to realize a further 100 million metric tonnes of meals manufacturing by 2025.
As well as, he spotlighted the deepened focus of the Financial institution’s new Ten-12 months Technique, on SAPZ, investing in climate-smart agriculture, supporting analysis and improvement, and bettering dietary outcomes.
Weaving friendship with rice
Exterior the convention corridor, the Korean authorities displayed its advances in rice analysis and innovation.
A compelling showcase on the Ok-Ricebelt initiative displayed samples of latest and improved rice varieties developed for cultivation in beneficiary African international locations, whereas a Ok-Meals Expertise Zone laid out an assortment of Korean rice-based meals and drinks.
Inspiring narratives of how far the nation has come from the Fifties when it skilled crippling meals shortages and a strong message of hope to African international locations nonetheless on the journey to agricultural self-sufficiency.
On the conclusion of his bilateral assembly with Minister Track, President Adesina promised to return to Korea quickly. “That is my seventh time coming to Korea, I sit up for coming again once more.”
On his listing of issues to see on that subsequent journey: Korea’s good agriculture in operation and its well-known city farms.
It is a measure of his keenness to see as many Korean success tales as attainable first-hand and, much more importantly, to see the African Growth Financial institution on the heart of facilitating the switch of Korean agricultural experience and expertise to African contexts.
The Financial institution’s delegation included Ambassador Edmond Raphaël Wega, Government Director of the Financial institution Group representing Canada, China, Kuwait, Korea and Turkey; Amadou Hott, Particular Presidential Envoy and international champion for the Financial institution’s Alliance for Inexperienced Infrastructure in Africa.
