End clap of the Korea-Africa summit which was held on June 4 and 5 in Seoul. For two days, 33 African heads of state held talks in the South Korean capital. Among them, the President of Kenya William Ruto gave an interview to RFI on the sidelines of this summit.
RFI: The first edition of the Korea-Africa summit ended today. What is your assessment of the event? ?
William Ruto : This is the first ever Korea-Africa summit. We had wonderful exchanges with our counterparts here in Korea. Particularly on the subject of the need to work with the international financial system to ensure that Africa is not disadvantaged. For a very long time, we paid four, five, sometimes eight times more to obtain the resources necessary for our development. With the consequence that several countries on our continent are experiencing excessive debt. We have therefore asked our partners here to provide more resources, to increase their contribution so that Africa can access development resources at a concessional rate, over the long term, 40 years, that they have a period of grace of ten years and which is flexible. The second topic is how we can use their technology to drive Africa’s transformation.
The format of these summits raises questions. A country on one side and a continent on the other Especially since your country, Kenya, is more populated than South Korea. How to ensure that this type of event does not lead to an unbalanced relationship.
This is a cause for concern. I raised it myself. We need to have a balanced conversation. This is why our colleagues at the African Union gave me the mandate to reform the institutions of the African Union. One of the reforms we are considering is to organize an economic and investment summit in Africa, to which we invite different countries.
What is the status of cooperation between your country and Korea on the issue of vaccines that began last year? ?
Today, I am very happy that Kenya has formally joined the International Vaccine Institute, a UN agency and we will now not only have the national headquarters in Kenya, but also the regional headquarters. This helps you achieve two things. First of all, promote the local manufacturing of vaccines. We saw during the pandemic how unequal vaccine distribution could be. But also promote the manufacturing of pharmaceutical products, including vaccines on the continent. So that we become self-sufficient, first in Kenya, but also throughout the African continent.
You frequently take a position on the issue of global warming, and the need to accelerate the energy transition. To this end, you have announced your desire to plant 15 billion trees over the next ten years. But at the same time, you also lifted the ban on logging. Aren’t these two contradictory decisions? ?
This is absolutely not contradictory. There is a balance between commercial exploitation and tree planting. Those we plant are largely native trees, necessary and useful in the fight against global warming. But we also have a commercial timber industry. There is a balance with commercial forestry which is planted specifically to supply the timber industry. But we also work to restore fragile ecosystems for water catchment areas, water towers, wetlands. Our goal is to ensure that we have a balanced environment that allows access to forest services, but in a sustainable manner.
You were in the United States about ten days ago for a state visit, a first in 16 years for an African president. But you are very closely linked to China economically, particularly on the issue of debt. How do you navigate between these two great powers who are waging a trade war and a war of influence? ?
Kenya and Africa are global players, like other countries. The United States, China are members of the G20. There is absolutely no contradiction between having friends in the West and having friends in the East. What is sustainable for countries is their interest. And that’s why I said, we don’t turn towards the west, we don’t turn towards the east, but towards the front.
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