(EDITORIAL from the Korea Times on Nov. 25)

'Africa Initiative': Korea Required to Actively Help Developing States

One might say that it is somewhat belated for South Korea to join an
international race to strengthen ties with African nations to secure a stable
supply of oil and other natural resources and beef up economic cooperation. But
it is never too late to launch a diplomatic initiative toward Africa, which is
often described as the world's ``last growth engine" with vast potential. That's
why Seoul held the Korea-Africa Forum on Tuesday to find ways of setting the
stage for a new partnership between the two parties.
The forum was the second of its kind between Korea and the African Union after
the first meeting in November 2006. Korea has become the fifth country to develop
a partnership with the AU, following China, Japan, India and Turkey. The AU is
the group of 53 African states with a total population of about 900 million that
came into being in 2001 to move toward political, social and economic
integration. There is no question that the bilateral partnership will provide
great opportunities not only for the Asian country but also for African states.
It is meaningful that Seoul has decided to double its official development
assistance (ODA) to Africa to $214 million by 2012. The aid is intended to help
the continent eradicate poverty and pursue sustainable growth. The nation needs
to emerge as a responsible member of the global community. It offered a total of
$800 million in ODA to developing countries last year, which represented only
0.09 percent of gross national income. The ratio was far lower than the average
of 0.3 percent recorded by the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), a 23-state
club of donors affiliated with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD).
Now the government plans to triple the amount of its ODA by 2015. The committee
is scheduled to review Korea's ODA program and will likely endorse its entry into
the international aid forum in Paris, Wednesday. With the endorsement, the nation
is expected to shift its status from an assistance recipient to a donor. A large
part of aid is to be provided to poor countries in Asia as committed to by the
Lee Myung-bak administration under its new diplomatic initiative toward Asia. It
is necessary to at least double the nation's aid to Africa, which currently
accounts for one-tenth of the total ODA.
Korea should also strive to share its development experience with developing
countries. Many Asian and African states are eager to learn from the Miracle on
the Han River. During the forum, Foreign and Trade Affairs Minister Yu Myung-hwan
promised to provide custom-tailored support to Africa. He unveiled a plan to
invite 5,000 Africans to training programs in Korea as well as send 1,000 Korean
volunteer workers to the continent.
It is also worth noting that Yu and AU commission chairman Jean Ping adopted a
Seoul declaration that the two sides will make joint efforts to reduce poverty,
tackle food and water shortages, and fight climate change and terrorism. In fact,
there are lots of fields in which Korea and Africa can boost cooperation and
promote peace and prosperity. It is also important for the nation, as a host of
next year's G20 summit, to play an active role as a mediator between developed
countries and developing ones.
(END)