Time to Invest in Africa

Accra, May 1, GNA - The President of the African Development Bank Group, Mr Donald Kaberuka has urged Korean businesses to take advantage of the vast improvements in Africa's investment climate and economic conditions to invest in the Continent.

"For the fifth year in a row, the African economy is growing in the neighbourhood of five per cent; macroeconomic conditions are at their best in three decades while violent conflicts are at their lowest ever," he said.

The ADB Group's President was speaking in Seoul last Wednesday at the opening of a forum on Business Opportunities in Africa as part of activities lined up for a week-long Ministerial Conference on Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation, the first-ever such initiative organized by the African Development Bank Group and the Korean Eximbank. Mr Kaberuka in a statement the Bank sent to the GNA said: "Both the oil and non-oil sectors are performing quite well, with one or two exceptions; conflicts that raged across the land five years ago have abated; further improving returns on investment."

He cited Africa's huge infrastructure gap that needed to be filled; the fact that only three per cent of the Continent's potential energy resources were tapped; the urgent need to catch up on the ICT and the rejuvenated private sector as some of the sure attractions for people, who were interested in doing business in Africa.

Mr Kaberuka, who led a delegation of 13 African Ministers, paid a courtesy call on President Moo-hyun Roh.

Speaking in the same vein earlier, the President and Chairman of Eximbank, Mr Dong Kyu Shin said Korea's trade and economic cooperation with Africa had achieved greater momentum in the last few years with annual trade volume between the two regions exceeding 9 billion dollars, which represented an increase of more than seven times since the early 1990s. In the same manner, he said, Korea's direct investment in Africa had reached about one billion dollars.

The figures, he said, "clearly reflect not only the friendly atmosphere between the two regions but also the need to further explore the economic potential between Africa and Korea".

Mr Shin cited the 'Korea Initiative for Africa's Development' President Roh launched during his recent visit to Africa (Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria). He said the conference, coming close on the heels of the visit, would expand interaction between the two sides would create a vital bridge between Korea and African nations. "We will explore as many viable avenues as possible for long-term sustainable partnership", he said.

The Republic of Korea became a State participant in the African Development Fund (ADF) on 27 February 1980 and was admitted into the membership of the African Development Bank on December 30, 1982. Korea's subscribed capital to the ADB's capital stock totalled about 138.66 million dollars. 1 May 06