PRESIDENT ROH VISITS AFRICA TO FURTHER ECONOMIC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 001034

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR CHA

E.O. 12958: DECL: AFTER KOREAN REUNIFICATION
TAGS: PREL ENRG KS
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT ROH VISITS AFRICA TO FURTHER ECONOMIC
AND DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS

REF: A. SEOUL 969


B. SEOUL 453

Classified By: A/DCM JOSEPH Y. YUN. REASONS 1.4 (B, D).

SUMMARY
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1. (C) MOFAT officials told poloff that President Roh
Moo-Hyun's March 6-13 visit to Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria as
well as his meeting with the Secretary General of the League
of Arab States on March 8, focused on improving economic
cooperation and bilateral relations. Roh and Egyptian
President Mubarak discussed bilateral trade and energy,
agricultural, petrochemical, and IT cooperation. Mubarak
also agreed to consider purchasing ROK-produced ammunition.
Roh and Nigerian President Obasanjo discussed energy
cooperation and infrastructure investment in Nigeria. They
also signed a Product Sharing Agreement worth $486 million
dollars, which called for joint exploration of two oil fields
in Nigeria. Roh and Algerian President Bouteflika signed a
Strategic Partnership Agreement, which called for increased
energy cooperation, and agreed to promote joint development
in oil storage, IT, and construction. During his African
visit, Roh requested support for Foreign Minister Ban
Ki-moon's UNSYG candidacy and announced that Seoul would
triple its Overseas Development Assistance for Africa to $100
million by 2008. We understand that Ban's candidacy was
favorably received in all the stops (ref a). END SUMMARY.
.
EGYPT VISIT MARCH 6-9
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2. (C) On March 22, poloff met with Deputy Director Choi
Sung-soo of the Middle East Division at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) for a readout of President
Roh's trip to Egypt. Roh met with President Hosni Mubarak
and attended a state dinner in his honor, met with Koreans
living in Egypt, the Egyptian Businessmen's Association, and
League of Arab States Secretary General Amre Moussa. Roh
also took a sightseeing tour to the Great Pyramid and Sphinx.


3. (C) Roh told Mubarak that Seoul and Cairo should
strengthen relations, particularly in trade and investment.
He proposed to send a delegation to focus on increasing
imports from Egypt and welcomed a reciprocal visit to South
Korea by year's end. Roh said the two countries should
increase cooperation in the areas of electronics, automotive,
petrochemical, investment, and agriculture. Roh offered
assistance to help make Egypt the IT hub of Africa. The
then-Minister of Information and Communication Chin Dae-je
offered to host an IT forum for Egypt to introduce South
Korean IT products and services. Seoul was seeking to
introduce Wide-Area Broadband and Digital Multimedia
Broadcasting and assist Cairo to develop those products.
Separately, Seoul requested Egyptian support for the
selection of Pyeongchang in Kangwon Province, South Korea, as
the site of the 2014 winter Olympics.


4. (C) Mubarak welcomed Roh's comments but stressed that
South Korean exports to Egypt greatly exceed imports from
Egypt. Mubarak therefore welcomed more South Korean
investment and proposed building an industrial complex for
South Korean companies in Egypt. Deputy Director Choi
claimed that Mubarak expressed his support for ROK Foreign
Minister Ban Ki-moon's candidacy for UN Secretary General.
Mubarak also offered his assistance for dialogue with North
Korea. However, Mubarak said he had only met with the
previous North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung and did not know how
North Korea would respond to Egyptian approaches.


5. (C) The two leaders agreed to expand cooperation in the
defense industry. Egypt said it would have its Defense
Minister study the possibility of purchasing ammunition from
South Korea. Deputy Director Choi did not comment on the
type and quantity of ammunition being discussed, adding only
that it was being negotiated by the South Korean Ministry of
Defense.



6. (C) While in Cairo, Roh also met with League of Arab
States Secretary-General Amre Moussa in Cairo. The two
discussed the state of affairs and current issues in their
respective regions. Roh and Moussa also discussed ways to
further relations between South Korea and Arab countries and
the need to expand economic cooperation.
.
NIGERIA AND ALGERIA VISITS MARCH 9-13
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7. (C) On March 17, Assistant Director Chang Su-ik of the
Northwest Africa Division, MOFAT, provided poloff with a
summary of President Roh's visit to Nigeria and Algeria. Roh
arrived in Nigeria on March 9 and held a meeting and state
dinner with President Olusegun Obasanjo. The summit focused
on bilateral energy cooperation, with Obasanjo emphasizing
the need to increase economic ties between the two countries
in the area of energy production and exploration. Roh
proposed to increase the number of South Korean companies
involved in Nigeria's infrastructure and manufacturing
sectors. At the conclusion of the summit, Roh and Obasanjo
signed a Provisional Sharing Agreement to begin joint
exploration of two oil possible sites, oil blocks OPL 323 and
OPL 321. The deal was reported to be worth a combined $486
million. The two sides also signed two MOU's concerning
bilateral cooperation on energy and transportation.


8. (C) On March 11, Roh arrived in Algeria and held a summit
with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Roh also attended a
luncheon and paid a call on Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia.
Roh later met with representatives from the National People's
Assembly and National Council. Roh and Bouteflika agreed to
expand South Korean participation in Algeria's oil and gas
production industries by signing a Strategic Partnership
Agreement. They also agreed to the signing of five MOU's on
bilateral cooperation in natural gas, solar-power, oil
storage, domestic construction and urban developments.
Bouteflika noted that Algeria would spend up to $100 billion
to upgrade its housing, infrastructure, and social welfare
facilities. Roh expressed his hope that Algeria would allow
South Korean companies to be a part of Algerian development
goals.
.
BAN KI-MOON'S UNSYG CANDIDACY
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9. (C) Roh requested support from all three countries for
Ban Ki-moon's candidacy to become the next United Nations
Secretary General. Our MOFAT interlocutors claimed that

SIPDIS
Mubarak expressed support for Ban's candidacy, but that
Nigeria and Algeria failed to express support for Ban
publicly. (NOTE: Per ref a, Ban on March 24 told the
Ambassador that Egypt expressed its support for his candidacy
and that the Nigerian and Algerian leaders were encouraging
and enthusiastic. END NOTE.)
.
SOUTH KOREAN AID TO AFRICA
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10. (C) While in Nigeria, on March 9, Roh publicly announced
that South Korea would increase its Overseas Development
Assistance (ODA) to Africa from $31 million currently, to
$100 million by 2008. For 2006, South Korea planned to
increase its ODA to Africa by $50 million, bringing the total
to $80 million. Roh also announced that South Korea would
invite one thousand students, government workers, and
technical experts from Africa to South Korea in order to
receive training and education.

COMMENT
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11. (C) Roh's energy-related efforts are consistent with
Korea's broad strategy (described in ref b) of diversifying
its sources of energy, as currently 78 percent of its oil
supply comes from the Middle East. Korean companies have
recently become very active in cooperative oil exploration

ventures of the types agreed to in Nigeria.
MINTON