South Korea Expands Aid to Africa: New Strategic Deals Signed in Seoul

Daniel Kim 2026.06.03 Views

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At the Lotte Hotel in Seoul, where the 2026 Korea-Africa Foreign Ministers’ Meeting took place on June 1, Hong Seok-hwa, director of KOICA’s Regional Operations II (sixth from the left), and Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, Tanzania’s foreign minister (seventh from the left), posed for a commemorative photo with participants after their bilateral talks. (Provided by KOICA)

KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency), South Korea’s government agency for grant aid, has launched an all-out official development assistance (ODA) diplomatic campaign to elevate diplomatic and economic cooperation with the African continent.

KOICA said on June 2 that, on June 1, when the 2026 Korea-Africa Foreign Ministers’ Meeting opened at the Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul, it held a series of bilateral talks with foreign ministers from 10 African countries, including Tanzania, Kenya and Egypt.

At the talks, KOICA reviewed its ODA achievements in Africa to date and held wide-ranging discussions about future cooperation.

At the Lotte Hotel in Seoul on June 1, where the 2026 Korea-Africa Foreign Ministers’ Meeting was held, Hong Seok-hwa (left), director of KOICA’s Regional Operations II, posed for a commemorative photo with Badr Abdelatty, Egypt’s foreign minister, after their bilateral meeting. (Provided by KOICA)

Hong Seok-hwa presented customized cooperation plans tailored to each country’s immediate needs. In his meeting with Tanzania’s foreign minister Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, they discussed water management, health and education infrastructure, and strategies for balanced growth through expanded transportation networks. Kombo actively requested that Korea share its distinctive expertise in rapid development.

Hong also pledged to deepen programs for youth talent development and to advance digital transformation projects with Egypt’s foreign minister Badr Abdelatty. With Tunisia’s minister of foreign affairs, migration and nationals abroad, Mohamed Ali Nafti, he agreed to pursue mutually beneficial initiatives aimed at strengthening ICT and boosting productivity in agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

The bilateral talks, held as side events to the Korea-Africa Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, included ministers from a total of 10 countries: the three already mentioned plus Mozambique, Botswana, Chad, Somalia, the DR Congo and Malawi.

On June 1, at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul where the 2026 Korea-Africa Foreign Ministers’ Meeting was held, Hong Seok-hwa, director of KOICA’s Regional Operations II (left), and Musalia Mudavadi, **Kenya** ‘s foreign minister signed the Host Country Arrangement and posed for a commemorative photo. (Provided by KOICA)

Notably, KOICA formally signed a Host Country Arrangement with Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the meeting. The agreement, signed by Director Hong Seok-hwa and Kenya’s foreign minister Musalia Mudavadi, builds on the 2014 basic grant-aid agreement. It reflects the significantly expanded scale of bilateral development cooperation and the changed local operating environment, and it secures KOICA’s legal authority and scope of activities within Kenya.

On the agreement, Director Hong said, \”This will be a decisive institutional milestone for Kenya’s emergence as a key hub for development cooperation in East Africa,\” adding, \”With legal status secured, we will maximize the efficiency of ODA budget execution and create innovative, mutually beneficial partnerships that Kenyans can experience in their daily lives.\”

Reporter Hwa-sook Shin hsshin087@viva100.com