Abiy Ahmed meets Moon Jae-in, EXIM Bank to release $300mn in cooperation fund

The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed reached South Korea's capital Seoul on Sunday for a two-days state visit. He had a detailed discussion with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in at his (presidential) office in Seoul on Monday, August 26. The leaders also discussed to enhance the bilateral ties between two countries.

Ethiopia's PM Abiy Ahmed met with the members of the Ethiopian community in a dinner reception organized by the Ethiopian Embassy to Korea. Apart from being welcomed from the government of South Korea, he has highly been welcomed by the Ethiopian community living in Seoul. He encouraged members of the community to work towards supporting their country in the spirit of MEDEMER.

Abiy Ahmed also visited the Korea Institute for Science and Technology together with his delegation where they were briefed on the contribution of science and technology in building Korea's strong economy. While the current cooperation between Ethiopia and Korea Institute for Science and Technology exists with the Ministry of Science & Education as well as Adama Science and Technology University, the 43-year-old leader expressed interest in collaborating to set up an institute like Korea Institute for Science and Technology in Ethiopia.

The committee is said to be holding a session every two years with a topic to discuss how to boost cooperation in varied fields including business, politics, culture, technology, education and science. The leaders also agreed upon the requirement for an investment promotion and protection agreement with an utmost objective to enhance bilateral trade and investment. The Ethiopian leader is quite overwhelmed from South Korea's development model although his country was in better condition both economically and politically during 1950s compared to South Korea.

On the other hand, the South Korea leader asked Ahmed to focus on solving problems and other obstacles confronted by South Korean companies in Ethiopia. The Ethiopia leader also met with the President of the EXIM Bank of the Republic of Korea and discussed ongoing and potential new support to the East African country. The EXIM Bank support for currently ongoing projects exceeds USD 600 million. A recent support of USD 300 million has been signed under the Korea-Ethiopia Economic Development Cooperation Fund for the 2019-2020 period.

PM Abiy Ahmed visited the Korea Institute for Science and Technology (KIST) together with his delegation where they were briefed on the contribution of science and technology in building Korea's strong economy. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/oYbFqRnHCa

— Office of the Prime Minister - Ethiopia (@PMEthiopia) August 26, 2019