South Korea Commits Billions in Financial Support to Drive Development in Tanzania and Ethiopia

Tanzania and Ethiopia announced they’ve inked deals with South Korea, snagging billions in loans, all while giving South Korea a green light to tap into Africa’s juicy mineral veins and wide export avenues.

This week, South Korea is playing host to at least 30 top dogs, including those from Tanzania and Ethiopia, at a big South Korea-Africa powwow.

Tanzania laid out plans to cop $2.5 billion over five years from South Korea, thanks to sweet loan terms.

Also, the East African nation signed a couple of pacts letting South Korea dig into its ocean riches and critical minerals like nickel, lithium, and graphite – essentials for clean energy tech, according to presidential mouthpiece Zuhura Yunus on Sunday.

Ethiopia, racing ahead with an economy and a whopping 126 million people, bagged a $1 billion loan deal spanning four years focused on infrastructure, science and tech, health, and city growth, as per state-linked Fana media.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania is also fishing for teamwork in areas like sustainable ocean resource use, natural gas development, and creative sectors, and is eyeing labor exports to South Korea, Yunus noted.

President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea has been chin-wagging with leaders from Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Ethiopia since Friday. On the agenda Monday: tête-à-têtes with bigwigs from Zimbabwe, Togo, Rwanda, and Mozambique.

Reported by Nuzulack Dausen; Edited by Hereward Holland, Mrigank Dhaniwala, and Mark Heinrich.