President’s visit to South Korea opens new economic frontier. . . enquiries inundate embassy after summit

President Mnangagwa’s diplomatic charm during the just-ended South Korea-Africa Summit, including his address to the hugely subscribed business forum, is already paying dividends as it emerged several South Korean business people are making enquiries, mainly in the mining sector, through their diplomatic mission in Harare.

The President was among African leaders who early this month addressed the business forum attended by over 200 South Korean business moguls and global economic consultancies, where he emphasised that the time was ripe for Africa to be accorded “due status” of an equal partner to the current global mineral extraction and beneficiation matrix.

The business forum was themed: “Strengthening Food and Mineral Security in Africa”.

During the business forum, The Herald Finance and Business engaged some businesspeople and diplomats who disclosed that developed as it is, South Korea is not endowed with natural resources such as minerals to power its highly technologically developed economy and is getting key minerals through third parties, hence the need to directly engage the source.

Speaking in an interview in Harare on Friday, South Korean Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Jae Kyung, said the highly successful summit had already seen businesses from the rich Asian country engaging in possible areas to venture into, especially mining.

“Let me happily share with you that just a week after the summit, there are increasing calls from South Korea to the embassy from businesspeople .

“These businesspeople came to know more about the opportunities in Zimbabwe during the summit. So they are now making enquiries about the minerals and some imports from Zimbabwe.

“They seem to be considering investing in the value addition of resources in Zimbabwe. We will continue to share with you some concrete outcomes and real investment coming from South Korea as time goes on.

“There is a lot of interest in nickel, cobalt and Lithium and six plus other minerals we already know. The President, His Excellency Dr ED Mnangagwa, very well elaborated on the minerals situation during the business forum in Korea.

“There was the launch of the South Korea-Africa minerals dialogue, …where leaders agreed that every year there will be a full discussion of value addition of the minerals,” said Ambassador Park.

South Korea is a key global economic player particularly in the food industry as well as a major actor in the sector of beneficiation of minerals, technology advancement and home to some of the world-acclaimed global giants such as Samsung, LG, automobile makers like Hyundai, KIA, Daewoo and SsangYong. The country has a gross domestic product of over US$2 trillion and is ranked 12 globally as far as economic development is concerned.

Said Amb Park; “They are interested in cobalt, nickel and lithium for the electric vehicle batteries. These are future industries – the Korean motor vehicle companies such as Hyundai and KIA and then for companies such as LG, Samsung, they all need these critical minerals. The global demand for their products is rising and it continues to rise.”

Amb Park said the Korean companies were currently getting these critical minerals through third parties in Australia, Canada and China and some countries in Latin America, a situation he said was not attainable.

He said the summit was indeed a big event as it was the first ever in South Korea’s diplomatic history to hold such a meeting.

“Why do I say that – firstly, the attendance was 48 countries represented and of course, 25 countries represented at Heads of State and Government level, including Zimbabwe’s President His Excellency Dr Mnangagwa.

“Secondly, on the outcomes, there was a huge volume of declarations for shared growth in a sustainable manner with solidarity and of course there were 50 G2G level MoUs and agreements and 35 MoUs at B2B level. Of course, there were bilateral MoUs with Zimbabwe.

“Thirdly, I would like to emphasise that South Koreans’ perceptions of countries in Africa have changed. Korean people now know more and better about Africa. So the Koreans are now feeling closer to Africa than ever before,” he said.

However, after this has been said, the reality is trade figures are alarmingly low and calls for urgent action between the two parties.

According to Amb Park, South Koreans’ total trade with all African countries accounted for less than 2 percent of Korea’s trade – just about US$20 billion according to last year’s trade figures.

“And then investment-wise as well, commutative investment from South Korea into Africa is less than US$8 billion and this is 0,05 percent of the whole of Korea’s foreign direct investment. We now understand we need to do something to adjust for diversification purposes or in trade issues, investment issues or mineral resources.

“We need to try and address our foreign policy situation in Africa. The summit definitely provided a strong momentum to change the narrative.

“We have a strong belief and understanding that South Korea’s relations with Africa are not a matter of choice, it is now a must. The reason is simple, the sheer number of countries in Africa and then the demographic trends and then the mining in Africa,” he said.

According to Ambassador Park, the Summit besides mining was also critical in areas such as agriculture and technology transformation.

He said on agriculture there was a Government to Government (G2G) Memorandum of Understanding on the K-Rice Initiative signed between the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development and his South Korean counterpart, Ms Song Miryung, that was witnessed by President Mnangagwa.

“Based on the Korean experience in the 1970s we developed a new rice variety which is fit for the Korean environment and climate. So we have that experience of overcoming the food security issue.

“So, we are now sharing that experience with some countries in Africa. This initiative covers seven countries and so from last week the K Rice initiative is expanding to Zimbabwe – there was an MoU with the Minister in Korea.

“So, this K Rice covers number one, rice variety which is fit for Zimbabwean soils and two, mechanisation – providing the machinery and then the third one is irrigation issues – so more access to water on farms and then the fourth one is the technical side.

“So, in a few years for example in the seven countries the target in 2027 is that rice should serve 30 million people. So, Zimbabwe has just been included and we hope in a few years Zimbabwe’s rice will be able to feed many people,” he said.

On the digital transformation side, there was another initiative – Tech for Africa Initiative that seeks to enhance the capabilities of particularly the youths in Africa including Zimbabwe.

“The purpose of the initiative is to provide digital devices for education, digital training and also encouraging small start-ups,” he said.

South Korea announced it would expand its official development assistance (ODA) to approximately US$10 billion by 2030 and provide export financing of about US$14 billion to help South Korean companies expand investment in Africa.

Asked what is South Korea’s secret to success, Ambassador Park said: “Investing in people, in education, tech skills and talent.”-herald