The 53rd annual meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group with focus on accelerating industrialization in the African continent kicked off on Monday in South Korean southern coastal city of Busan.

Over 4,000 ministers, corporate leaders and journalists from African countries have gathered in Korea’s second largest city for the fifth meeting held outside the African region.

Over the next five days, sessions will be held to explore ways to accelerate Africa’s Industrialization and urbanization.

Separately, Korea will hold ministerial-level Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation (KOAFEC) meeting to discuss new joint ventures. KOAFEC established in 2006 is a biennial conference to drive Korea’s development initiatives in Africa.

Attendees include Morocco Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani, World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Mark Green.

A number of business leaders will also meet with state-run companies from Africa to tap infrastructure projects.

By Park Dong-min and Lee Ha-yeon

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