KEXIM Conducts Financial Diplomacy with 10 African Countries: “Expanding EDCF Economic Cooperation”

[Financial News] Hwang Ki-yeon, president of The Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM), held a series of meetings with senior officials from 10 African countries on the occasion of the 8th Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation (KOAFEC) Ministerial Conference. KOAFEC is a consultative body launched in 2006 to strengthen economic and development cooperation between Korea and Africa. It is jointly hosted by the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the African Development Bank (AfDB), and KEXIM.
This year’s KOAFEC was held under the theme “Africa’s Great Transformation through Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Infrastructure.” Discussions covered sustainable growth in Africa and new avenues for economic cooperation between Korea and Africa.
KEXIM held separate high-level bilateral meetings on the 9th and 10th with the vice president of Botswana and the finance ministers of Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Sierra Leone. The participants shared each country’s key development needs and discussed expanding economic cooperation through the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), as well as ways to support Korean companies’ entry into local markets.
In particular, KEXIM discussed cooperation measures to ensure the smooth implementation of follow-up procedures, including the signing of a loan agreement, for the Tanzania Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technology Training Institution Construction Project. The project was approved in August as EDCF’s first AI-related project.
KEXIM held an investment briefing on the 10th to help Korean companies identify business and investment opportunities in Africa. The event directly connected companies seeking to enter African markets with local governments and institutions.
The briefing was attended by the African Development Bank (AfDB), government officials from Kenya and Tanzania, representatives involved in investment projects in Ghana, and major Korean companies. They shared promising African projects and investment opportunities with Korean businesses.
Leading Korean AI semiconductor companies, including FuriosaAI and Rebellions, also attended the briefing. They learned about the AI and digital transformation plans and investment demand of major African countries, while introducing their technological capabilities and business expertise to local government and institutional officials.
Hwang said, “Through this KOAFEC meeting, economic cooperation with Africa has expanded further into areas of high importance to the Korean government’s external economic strategy, including AI and digital technologies, culture and supply chains.” He emphasized, “KEXIM’s role is to turn intergovernmental cooperation into concrete projects and then connect those projects to Korean companies’ participation in overseas business.”
KEXIM plans to continue linking financial diplomacy with developing-country governments to Korean companies’ overseas expansion. It will also use various financial instruments, including export and investment financing, to expand mutually beneficial economic cooperation with Africa.

[email protected] Park Moon-soo Reporter