admin
Lovemore Chikova Development Dialogue
Prospects of economic cooperation between Zimbabwe and South Korea have of late been under scrutiny, with the visit by the Asian country’s special envoy last week being one of the highlights.
Mr Song Ho-sung was in Zimbabwe to seek support for his country to host the World Expo 2030, whose previous edition was held in Dubai last year.
He held discussions with Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who was Acting President at the time, where he unveiled his country’s plans on hosting the Expo.
Mr Song also discussed with Acting President Chiwenga issues related to cooperation in various fields between Zimbabwe and South Korea. But cooperation between Zimbabwe and South Korea has of late captured the attention of academics, who have turned it into a subject a research.
Six researchers — Soyoung Lim, Keun Lee, Daniel Ndlela, Kyehwan Kim, Jinkeun Yu and Tichaona Mushayandebvu — early this year released a research paper titled: “Directions for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development in Zimbabwe and the Republic of Korea”.
The paper was released by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade.
The researchers found out there were many promising areas of cooperation between South Korea and Zimbabwe that should continue to be probed.
They noted that Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 is the overarching development strategy of the country which reflects long-term aspirations of Zimbabweans.
Vision 2030 is premised on the Transitional Stabilisation Programme and the National Development Strategy (2021-2025).
The vision is aimed at achieving an empowered upper middle income society by 2030.
The researchers noted that South Korea could leverage on investments in the areas of special economic zones, revival of the manufacturing sector, the steel industry, pharmaceutical sector and mining in Zimbabwe.
“Korean companies seeking to enter South Africa will also actively enter Zimbabwe by utilising the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) or the Southern African Development Community,” they said.
“It is necessary to analyse the industries or areas in which Korean companies can cooperate in Zimbabwe and to suggest ways to. In addition to iron ore, Zimbabwe is rich in minerals such as gold, platinum, coal, chromium, and asbestos.
“Thus, the mining industry is expected to play an important role as a key driving force for economic growth in Zimbabwe.”
In this context, cooperation between Zimbabwe and South Korea, which has a lot of experience in international cooperation in preventing and managing environmental disruption caused by mining, is promising through technical cooperation and capacity building, the researchers noted.
To show the extent of the cooperation between Zimbabwe and South Korea, the Zimbabwe Agricultural Training Centre was established in Seke in August 2012, with joint support from Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Korea Programme on International Agriculture.
“Through the advancement of local agriculture, it will be possible to resolve Zimbabwe’s food shortage and export agricultural products processing businesses with high added value,” the researchers noted.
What is commonly observed in economic development experiences, not only in South Korea, but also in Northeast Asian countries, is a high level of education.
This is why cooperation between South Korea and Zimbabwe is promising to strengthen human capacity beyond infrastructure-oriented cooperation.
The researchers suggested that South Korea could contribute useful support to Zimbabwe because of its vast experience and history in vocational education, as well as general curriculum. This could be vocational education on the production of Information Communication Technology-related software that allows remote educational cooperation with South Korea possible in Zimbabwe.
The researchers said it was expected that training human resources to start a website and contents production start-up by taking advantage of English-speaking Zimbabwean was an additional appropriate strategy for cooperation. It is well known that South Korea is a global leader in the green industry agenda and it houses prominent global institutions such as the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and the Green Climate Fund.
These can be exploited to ensure there is cooperation on the green revolution so that no country is left behind.
In fact, in 2012, the South Korea Embassy in Zimbabwe collaborated with the Government of Zimbabwe and the Business Council for Sustainable Development Zimbabwe to conceptualise the Green Industry Programme.
The programme presented opportunities that can be exploited, making the green industry another area where cooperation between South Korea and Zimbabwe would be useful.
Zimbabwe has abundant lithium resources, and these are the main materials of secondary batteries, one of the most popular green technologies in recent years.
“It is possible to build a global supply chain in Zimbabwe through collaboration with global battery manufacturers including Korean companies,” the researchers noted.
“In addition, the fact that abundant ferrochromium is supplied to major steel companies can be considered in the industrial development plan of Zimbabwe.”
The researchers noted that despite the abundant opportunities, cooperation between Zimbabwe and South Korea had not been very active.
“Without underestimating or distorting the value of the Zimbabwean market, cooperation between Korea and Zimbabwe can be expected to be more promising than the current situation might suggest,” the researchers said. “Through this, cooperation will be possible in line with Zimbabwe’s industrial development trend and Korea’s demand for diversification of supply chains. “An intensified cooperation between Korea and Zimbabwe is expected to help transferring capabilities such as technology and know-how, as well as development experience, which will support Zimbabwe’s future development and enhance the country’s economic growth.”
The researchers noted that land reform is regarded as a prerequisite for Zimbabwe to move on to the path of genuine industrialisation and agricultural and rural reform.
They said this was partially due to the fact that 66 percent of Zimbabwe’s total population is rural.
In the same argument, the researchers called for the reconstruction of large-scale export agricultural plantations, which used to be Zimbabwe’s foreign currency source and labour-intensive.
Zimbabwe is suitable for agricultural production due to its fertile land, they noted.
The researchers said the features that emerge in a comparison of growth rates over the long term between Zimbabwe and South Korea are volatility and the level of growth.
“Zimbabwe has occasionally seen periods of strong growth, but such periods are few and far between,” they said. “On the other hand, Korea’s growth rate has been consistently high and has not fallen significantly outside of a handful of crises.”
The researchers noted that industrialisation remained important to developing countries, but the challenges to advance it were now more serious than in the past.
They noted that industrialisation is crucial for African countries to transform their economies, strengthen their competitiveness and create jobs.
The Zimbabwean government, the researchers commented, had emphasized its commitment to economic reform, rebalancing the economy and attracting international investment, and has been working to open the economy to domestic and foreign investors since 2019.
This plays an important role in setting the agenda for long-term cooperation between Zimbabwe and South Korea.
The researchers did a comparative analysis of economic development paths between South Korea and Zimbabwe and identified the path of structural transformation for inclusive and sustainable industrial development in both countries.
This similarity highlights the potential areas of cooperation between the two countries.
South Korea and Zimbabwe established diplomatic relations on November 18, 1994 and since then they have been having steadily developing relations.
In May 2010, an Investment Guarantee Agreement on expanding investment in agriculture, mining, medicine, and finance between the two countries came into effect.
Recently, exchanges between high-ranking officials and practical cooperation have been expanding, and both governments are closely cooperating with each other to share development experience.
South Korea’s South Gyeongsang province and the city of Cheonan are twinned with Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland Central province and Harare.
The Korean government established KOPIA (the Korean Programme for International Cooperation in Agricultural Technology) in Harare at the Zimbabwe’s Scientific and Industrial Research Development Centre (SIRDC) in 2016.
Annual trade volume between the two countries is around US$40 million, with South Korea mainly exporting automobiles, home appliances, cosmetic and chemical products to Zimbabwe.
The Asian country imports cotton, cigarettes, gold, platinum and wheat from Zimbabwe.
Online Reporter