The African Development Bank believes prospects are high for broader productive ventures between South Korea and the African continent, especially in light of an inaugural summit hosted by Seoul this past summer.
Our Shin Ha-young had a chance to talk to its chief.
It’s been half a year since the Korea-Africa Summit, and the African Development Bank is looking forward to building on the outcomes of recent cooperation between the two sides.
That’s what President Akinwumi Adesina of the African Development Bank said during an interview at the Africa Investment Forum.
Agreeing to launch a high-level dialogue on expanding cooperation in the supply chain of critical minerals was one of the key outcomes.
“Africa shouldn’t be exporting those as raw materials because that is the direct door to poverty. We need to make sure that Africa is able to process, add value to these critical minerals, and move up the value chain This is where Korea comes in. Korea is again supporting us through the Korea Trust Fund to do critical analysis and assessments of how we might be able to set up lithium-ion battery precursor manufacturing plants in Africa.”
In terms of agricultural development, along with technology transfer, South Korea’s K-Ricebelt initiative has been a perfect fit for the so-called “REWARD” program, a 650 million U.S. dollars initiative by the AfDB to improve food security in West Africa.
“Korea is also helping us on something very important which is in helping with the use of drone technology for agriculture. And using those drones to be able to monitor temperature to be able to monitor climates whether it’s moisture, to be able to also monitor pest and diseases. And so that technology transfer is happening a lot from Korea.”
Meanwhile, ahead of Donald Trump’s second term, with many countries closely watching his “America First” policies, President Adesina believes the partnership with the U.S., especially in critical minerals, will continue.
“Africa is a great trading partner with the United States. President Biden went to Africa, paid his first visit to Africa, and went to Angola and on the Lobito Corridor, back to the issue of the critical minerals. And so I expect that the partnership on critical metals will be big and continue with the United States. The United States is our second largest contributor to the African Development Bank and I believe that will continue and probably much stronger under the new president.”
Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, the President reflected not only on the growth of the AfDB’s capital, which evolved from an initial 250 million U.S. dollars to 318 billion but also on its impact on the continent’s development.
“If you ask me what has really changed with African development banks since 1960 I would say today we are at the center of Africa’s development. We’ve been running these High 5s in Africa. We’ve impacted on half a billion people from water to sanitation access to transport access to energy access to food security, and all of that and private sector as well. So that’s how the bank has become today.”
He described the past six decades as phenomenal, adding that the needs of Africa are immense and that working in partnerships is crucial.
Shin Ha-young, Arirang News, Rabat.
source : https://www.arirang.com/news/view?id=278995
