Hebert Zharare in SEOUL, South Korea
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa had his first official engagement yesterday when he held talks with South Korean President, Mr Yoon Suk Yeoul, during which the two leaders deliberated on issues at the centre of their countries' economic development, including resource beneficiation, deployment of science and technology skills, promotion of smart cities and measures to mitigate the effects of the El Nino-induced drought.
President Mnangagwa, who arrived here on Sunday evening, has a busy schedule as he is also expected to attend the official opening of the South Korea-Africa Summit today, address the agriculture conference, meet South Korean business executives and Zimbabweans based in the Asian nation.
The summit, running under the theme: "The Future We Make Together: Shared Growth, Sustainability and Solidarity", will be attended by about 33 African countries represented at Head of State and Government level or by seconded representatives.
Speaking to Zimbabwean journalists here after the meeting, Presidential spokesperson, who is also Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications), Mr George Charamba, said although the summit covered all African countries, Zimbabwe would exploit all opportunities available to ensure the country derived maximum rewards.
He said the first area the two leaders dwelt on was agriculture, with Zimbabwe angling to benefit from South Korea's vast experience in the production of different varieties of rice and other nutritious small grains.
"So essentially, that is one area where we thought Zimbabwe could benefit in the triple sense of not just the production of grains, but also development of irrigation and the creation of the means to work on agriculture and we are talking here of mechanisation.
"I think you may recall that not too far back, Zimbabwe used to get some tractors from South Korea, the KIOTI model and a number of our farmers are actually working with that model. So, we are looking at the triple side of agriculture, that means the development of irrigation, the new seed technologies as well as mechanisation, all of which are in sync with our ambition as a country," Mr Charamba said.
The issue of resource beneficiation remains central to Zimbabwe and President Mnangagwa and his South Korean counterpart zeroed on this matter in the double sense of value adding agricultural products.
South Korea is a key player, particularly in the food industry as well as a major actor in the beneficiation of minerals.
"You notice that just next to our own country -- South Africa -- South Korea is getting a lot of minerals from that country, ironically including platinum which is also coming from Zimbabwe. So essentially, what we are trying to do now is to have very direct interface with the South Korean economy so that we meet the key minerals which they require for purposes of building their own industrial capacity.
President Mnangagwa meets South Korean President Hong Suk Yeoul at his offices in Seoul, South Korea yesterday, while Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister, Frederick Shava (second from left), Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube (left) and South Korean officials look on. -- Picture: Presidential Photographer Tawanda Mudimu.
"They have a particular interest in iron, chrome, platinum and of course lithium. In respect of the last (lithium), our wish is really to attract South Korean companies so that they do the manufacture of lithium batteries in Zimbabwe.
"I think you are aware that the President has pronounced himself very eloquently his ambition to create a green park around the Mapinga area, where Zimbabwe can take advantage of the abundance of that mineral, try and move up the value chain of lithium in the direction of benefiting extensively from a decarbonised global economy as it shifts away from the fossil fuel," Mr Charamba said.
Already, Art Corporation in Zimbabwe, which owns Chloride Batteries, has its major shareholder domiciled in Seoul and can be a low hanging fruit as far as that area is concerned.
The two leaders also discussed the development model that South Korea has followed to build smart cities and villages.
Said Mr Charamba: "In our case all propositions are of huge interest to us. You are aware of what we are doing in Mount Hampden, you are also are aware of the 35 000 villages we have identified, which we seek to transform into business propositions so that we can start our own rural industrialisation. So, we have a lot to learn and draw from South Korea and that matter came under discussion."
The issue of infrastructure development, such as roads and railway network, was discussed and Zimbabwe stands to benefit from South Korea that has developed state of the art technology in railway systems, including the manufacture of high speed trains.
"We have done and we are still doing the roads using our own resources and there is one area which is quite demanding for Zimbabwe and that has to do with revamping our entire railway network. So essentially what we are looking for is a possibility of some kind of cooperation between us and South Korea in respect of that.
"In any case, we have this geographical gift as a country that we are centrally located, which makes us a hub for both south bound and north bound traffic and so it is critically important for us that we revamp our own transport network," said Mr Charamba.
He said the fifth area the leaders discussed was on science and technology as well as manpower development, with a view to helping Zimbabwe produce more skills in that area.
"I think you are aware of the manpower audit which Zimbabwe has carried out and it is so clear that we have a serious skills gap, particularly in technical areas. The strength of the technological thrust in South Korea is one area we can benefit from and already we have some scholarships which are benefiting Zimbabweans who are training here," Mr Charamba said, adding that there was a request for South Korea to increase the number of scholarships to Zimbabweans in the area of biotechnology.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
He said this would leap-frog and help accelerate the country's goal of becoming an upper middle income economy by 2030.
However, both leaders lamented a fall in tourist arrivals from South Korea, with figures showing that arrivals plummeted from around 20 000 tourists visiting Zimbabwe pre-Covid 19 era to the current 2 000.
President Mnangagwa and Mr Yoon also discussed the El Nino factor in Southern Africa and a special plea was made for South Korea to assist by way of supporting Zimbabwe get through this rough patch.
"Incidentally, our model of drought mitigation goes beyond meeting food requirements for Zimbabwe but actually looks forward to drought recovery, which again takes us to the issue of irrigation as well as water development. So really, it is a very broad scope in a model we have adopted as Zimbabwe, which is why it is asking for more US$3 billion, which we are trying to mobilise."
Both leaders were unanimous that there be resumption of a Joint Permanent Commission as a framework to express bilateral relations between the two countries.
"Remember, this is a South Korea-Africa Summit, which means the focus is not just on Zimbabwe, but on other countries but the key thing for us as Zimbabwe is to see what we can get out of that broad interaction in order to advance our own interests. What is critical is that South Korea has started looking at Africa alongside other powers of the world, which means it's our moment and we need to take advantage of it," said Mr Charamba.
