Major Korean firms including Hyundai, POSCO and Samsung SDI have joined African business leaders in Seoul to pursue investment in manufacturing, minerals and clean energy under a new trade committee.
The talks marked the first Business Roundtable of the Korea-Africa Economic Committee (KAEC), convened by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat.
The committee grew out of a memorandum of understanding the two bodies signed during the Korea-Africa Business Summit in June 2024, and the roundtable served as its first formal engagement.
On the African side, participants included the Pan-African Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the South African power utility Eskom and the OPAIA Group. Discussions centred on value added manufacturing, renewable energy, infrastructure, digital commerce and the building of integrated supply chains linking African production with Korean technology.
AfCFTA Secretary-General Wamkele Mene said the committee reflected a shared commitment to practical, mutually beneficial partnerships, adding that Africa’s progress in implementing the free trade area was opening room for cooperation in trade, investment, industrialisation, technology and infrastructure.
He pointed to Africa’s growing digital economy, customs modernisation, small business development and green industrialisation as openings for Korean firms seeking new markets and supply chains.
The AfCFTA aims to create a single market spanning 54 countries and about 1.4 billion people, and its Secretariat has been assembling a pipeline of Korean technical partnerships, including a cooperation fund and an origin management system.
Both sides agreed to institutionalise the committee through regular meetings and alternating business exchanges between Africa and South Korea to accelerate trade and investment flows.
