S. Korea, Ivory Coast agree to bolster economic cooperation

South Korea and Ivory Coast agreed Tuesday to strengthen economic cooperation as Seoul is turning to resource-rich Africa for new business opportunities to boost its sagging economy.

The two sides inked a memorandum of understanding meant to expand trade and investment between the two countries after a summit between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her Ivory Coast counterpart, Alassane Ouattara, in Seoul.

The summit is part of South Korea's push to engage with Africa in recent years. Park met with her Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York last month. The Ugandan president visited South Korea last year.

She also held talks with Mozambican President Armando Guebuza last year.

South Korea shipped cars and other goods worth US$144 million to Ivory Coast last year while importing raw materials worth $2 million from the western African country, according to data compiled by the South Korean government.

South Korea said the summit between Park and Ouattara laid the groundwork to make inroads into infrastructure in Ivory Coast by South Korean companies, according to Park's office.

South Korea asked Ivory Coast to help its companies participate in projects worth $1.12 billion meant to modernize the African country's infrastructure, including the construction of a thermal power generation plant, Park's office said.

South Korean companies have already secured a $1.5 billion deal to build a railway in Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast.

Ivory Coast has been pushing for projects worth $22 billion to build key infrastructure as part of its efforts to double the size of its economy by 2020.

Ivory Coast's gross domestic product stood at $28.7 billion in 2012. (Yonhap)