By Ochiaka Ugwu
The Korean Government may have concluded plans to host a Korea-Africa Summit for the first time in the history of its bilateral relations with Africa, the Korean Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Young-Chae has said.
Kim who made this known at the Korea National Day Ceremony in Abuja noted the summit would boost Korea, Nigeria relations.
Continuing, he informed the proposed summit would lead to more high level exchange of visits, trade, investment opportunities, and the deepening of a mutual understanding.
According to him, “Together with the summit meeting, the Korean government will expand its presence in Africa. It will increase its ODA budget substantially in the areas of agriculture, education, health, climate adaptation, and humanitarian assistance.
“As a model of economic development for many developing countries, Korea will showcase several platforms at the summit in order to share its experiences of building the manufacturing base and transforming agriculture.
“With the same spirit, the Korean government is determined to implement its long-term vision to go together with Africa for peace and prosperity by hosting 2030 Busan Expo. Nigeria conducted elections early this year, and the political process is finally over. Democracy needs patience and compromise.
“Now we have a high expectation that Nigeria will concentrate on economic development. Korea is among the first countries that President Tinubu had summit meetings with. President Yoon and President Tinubu had a very fruitful meeting in India on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.
“We hope that there will be another bilateral summit meeting in Seoul next year when Korea hosts the Korea-Africa summit. It will produce fruitful results. Since my term here will end early next year, this will be my last national day reception in Nigeria” he said.
