The Joint Declaration of the 2024 Korea-Africa Summit outlines the key objectives and commitments made by the participating nations. The summit, hosted by President Yoon Suk Yeol, brought together heads of state and government from 48 African nations, the President of the Republic of Korea, and representatives from the African Union and the African Development Bank.

Key Objectives and Commitments

Shared Growth

1. Economic Cooperation: The declaration emphasizes the importance of strengthening economic cooperation between Korea and Africa. This includes fostering mutually beneficial trade and investment, supporting Africa’s industrialization, and enhancing Korean-African business partnerships. The two sides agree to strengthen institutional frameworks such as Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), Trade and Investment Promotion Frameworks (TIPFs), Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs), and Investment Protection Agreements (IPAs).
2. Infrastructure Development: The declaration highlights the need to build quality, reliable, sustainable, and resilient infrastructure projects in Africa. This includes roads, railways, bridges, ports, airports, dams, seawater desalination plants, and electricity and water management systems. Korea is willing to share its expertise in smart infrastructure fields such as smart cities and intelligent transportation systems.
3. Digital Technology: The declaration recognizes the importance of integrating digital technologies across various sectors, including agriculture and healthcare. Korea is committed to sharing its expertise in digital government, including the Customs e-Clearance system (UNI-PASS), the Korea ON-line E-Procurement system (KONEPS), and the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS).
4. Education and Human Resource Development: The declaration emphasizes the need to cultivate talented human resources through education and training, particularly in the fields of science and technology. Korea’s ‘Tech4Africa Initiative’ aims to enhance digital capabilities among African youth. The two sides also agree to expand infrastructure for education and research, including providing high-quality programs in science and technology and establishing Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) schools.

Sustainability

1. Climate Change: The declaration stresses the importance of enhancing sustainability to address global challenges such as climate change. The two sides agree to accelerate action-oriented, cooperative endeavors in mitigation and adaptation, promoting innovative, sustainable, and clean energy. They also emphasize the need to expand cooperation in land and forest conservation, sustainable land management, marine conservation, and biodiversity preservation.
2. Food Security: The declaration highlights the need to advance cooperation for food security and sustainable agriculture. This includes promoting the application of advanced agricultural technologies for climate change adaptation, expanding irrigation facilities, and safeguarding traditional irrigation and water distribution knowledge.
3. Healthcare: The declaration emphasizes the need to enhance cooperation for a collective response to global health crises. This includes strengthening disease surveillance, establishing primary healthcare infrastructure, developing human resources capabilities in enhancing manufacturing capacities of essential medicines and medical supplies, and promoting the safety of medical products and building public health laboratory systems.
4. Critical Minerals: The declaration recognizes the increasing importance of mineral resources needed for the development of future industries such as electric vehicles, batteries, and renewable energy. The two sides agree to launch the Korea-Africa Critical Minerals Dialogue to enhance cooperation and knowledge sharing in this area.

Solidarity

1. Peace and Security: The declaration emphasizes the importance of building sustainable peace and stability in Africa. The two sides agree to enhance cooperation in the fields of defense, the defense industry, and public security. They also stress the need to support counterterrorism efforts and prevent and counter violent extremism conducive to terrorism.
2. Humanitarian Assistance: The declaration expresses deep concern about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and calls for the full implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 2728 (2024). Korea is willing to continue to provide humanitarian assistance to people in need.

Way Forward

1. Official Development Assistance (ODA): Korea will continue to expand ODA up to 10 billion US dollars by 2030 as a catalyst for projects for cooperation with Africa. Approximately 14 billion US dollars in export financing will be provided to Korean companies by 2030 to encourage their activities in Africa.
2. Regular Review and Support: The declaration emphasizes the importance of regularly reviewing and supporting the implementation of the commitments made at the summit. This includes strengthening the activities of the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation (KOAFEC) Conference and Korea-Africa Agriculture Ministers Meeting, and establishing new high-level consultative bodies such as the Customs Commissioners Meeting and the Chief Statisticians Meeting.
3. Comprehensive Evaluation: The declaration tasks the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in 2026 to comprehensively evaluate the outcomes of this summit and discuss the way forward, including exploring the possibility of holding the next summit.

In summary, the Joint Declaration of the 2024 Korea-Africa Summit outlines a comprehensive framework for cooperation between Korea and Africa. The key objectives and commitments include strengthening economic cooperation, developing infrastructure, integrating digital technologies, enhancing education and human resource development, addressing climate change, promoting food security and sustainable agriculture, enhancing healthcare, and fostering solidarity through peace and security initiatives. The way forward includes expanding official development assistance, regularly reviewing and supporting the implementation of commitments, and comprehensively evaluating the summit’s outcomes.

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