Chilima positive on Korea-Africa Summit
Vice-President Saulos Chilima has expressed optimism that the Korea-Africa Summit that opens today in Seoul, South Korea will give Malawi tangible outcomes in areas of trade, investment and infrastructure development.
Briefing the Malawi media covering the event, he said his presence at the summit seeks to forge strategic partnerships and that he will present a compelling Malawi case to tap from financial deals on offer.
Chilima said the summit, being held under the theme ‘The future we make together; Shared growth, sustainability and solidarity’ presents a unique opportunity for Malawi to strengthen ties with this strategic partner and accelerate collective progress.
He said: “Therefore, for us, we are looking at this as a Korea-Malawi summit. We have our own expectations. In the next few days, we will be updating what we have managed to accomplish. We don’t take such summits for fun. These are intended to benefit the country.”
The summit has $10 billion (about K17.5 trillion) concessional loans on offer to African countries and $14 billion (about K24 trillion) for Korean companies to expand their footprint into African countries.
Earlier yesterday, the Vice-President held several side meetings where he highlighted Malawi’s potential as a gateway to the Southern African Development Community market.
He also met South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol and First Lady Kim Keon-hee before meeting former United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, who heads the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), an intergovernmental organisation supporting and promoting sustainable economic growth in developing countries.
During the meeting, Chilima appealed to Ban to consider assisting and working with Malawi to fight climate change, arguing that global warming is a threat to food security.
In his response, Ban said Malawi should join GGGI as a member to benefit from support for social economic development. Currently, 48 States are members of GGGI.
He said “Addressing these climate change issues, greening your economy, we have experts, and we can even establish an office in your country to work with your government on green economy.”
Chilima is at the summit alongside Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nancy Tembo and Deputy Secretary to the President and Cabinet Janet Banda.
The Vice-President also addressed a high-level panel discussion on forestry and desertification hosted by the Korea Forest Service and the UN Convention on Desertification.
