Mozambique and Korea signed a memorandum of understanding under which the Asian nation pledges to disburse one billion dollars to finance development projects in the country.
The Head of State announced this at a press conference with Mozambican journalists covering his participation in the First Korea-Africa Summit, a two-day event starting on Tuesday in Seoul.
‘Mozambique, through the Ministry of Economy and Finance, has signed a memorandum for Korea to finance one billion US dollars,’ said Nyusi.
He warned, however, that there was an urgent need to design clear, concrete and prioritised projects.
He explained that often a particular project may be important, but not a priority.
He recognised the need to capitalise on traditional cooperation relations because it is from the past that the present is made, and it is from the past that the future can be rationally projected.
Asked if the amount to be paid by Korea would be in the form of a donation, Nyusi replied in the negative, because it was too high.
He explained that the amount is to be repaid in the medium term, but under favourable conditions.
Speaking about the meaning of the summit’s motto ‘The Future We Build Together: Economic Growth, Sustainability and Solidarity”, Nyusi emphasised that “it means acceptance that we have to show solidarity, but also make cooperation sustainable and not be limited to a simple relationship of recipients and donors”.
He emphasised that the African countries had made it clear that cooperation should be through win-win partnerships.
‘The African countries were not here to extend a hand,’ Nyusi emphasised, ‘they came here to say that Africa has this, Africa can do this with you. That’s what we want now so that we can quickly free ourselves from poverty,’ he added.
In the multilateral sphere, Nyusi considers the summit to have been a great success, judging by the level of participation.
We focussed on the areas that we consider to be priorities, namely agriculture, energy, infrastructure, but with an emphasis on manufacturing.
In fact, the summit made it clear that Africa wants to stop being a mere exporter of materials and start exporting products with added value.
In another development, Korean statesman Yoon Suk Yeol, who co-chaired the opening session with his Mauritanian counterpart and President-in-Office of the African Union, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, announced that he will increase the value of Africa’s Official Development Assistance to 10 billion dollars by 2030.
In addition, the government will provide export financing worth around 14 billion dollars to promote trade and investment by Korean companies in Africa.
‘Today, we live in an era of complex transnational crises,’ said Mr Yoon at the opening ceremony.
If Korea and Africa combine their strengths to find sustainable solutions, they can overcome global challenges and crises together,’ Yoon said.