BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – His Majesty King Mswati III believes with the right attitude and work ethic, Eswatini can achieve the development status already achieved by countries such as South Korea and Singapore.
The King said this yesterday (Thursday, June 13, 2024) at Ludzidzini Royal Residence, where he was briefing the media about the working visit he undertook when he visited these two Asian countries. The King mentioned that these countries took it upon themselves that they would achieve the first world status, despite that they lacked mineral resources, which helped many countries achieve economic development.
His Majesty the King noted that about 40 to 50 years ago, South Korea was one of the poor countries in the world, but managed to be a first world country by now. He said during his visit during the Korea-Africa Summit, he noted that South Korea was developed and active in many areas of economic development.
He noted that the country was already advanced in terms of technology and many things they did were centred around technological advancement. He also noted that South Korea was also active in trading with countries from many continents around the world.
However, he noted that South Korea had still not been that much active in terms of trade with the African continent. The King said this was an opportunity for African countries such as Eswatini to take advantage and make the most of such an opportunity.
The King said during the summit, South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol announced that his country would donate an amount of US$10 billion (about E184.1 billion) to help all the African countries to develop their social welfare and economic development programmes. He further mentioned that there was an additional US$14 billion (about E257.74 billion) to be given to South Korean business people who would want to invest in any African country.
He said this showed that South Korea also wished to help African countries at Government level and at business level. The King said on the following day, there was also a business forum, where business people from South Korea and Africa met to discuss on how they could improve their production in many different sectors.
The King said he was given an opportunity to go to Busan, a city in South Korea, where many economic activities took place. He said in that city, which was the second largest, after Seoul, he learned that South Korea used a strategic oil reserve facility as a launch pad to achieve the economic development they had already achieved.
He said the oil was then used to produce many different petroleum products, which were used to generate more money to open and improve other sectors.
He believed that Eswatini was on the right path because it also had a strategic oil reserve facility. He believed the country could also achieve what was achieved by South Korea. The King also learned that in Busan, ships were being built and were used to transport all cargo to many different parts of the world.
The King then went to Singapore, from South Korea. He found that Singapore was also a country that did not have natural resources. What was also a disadvantage for the South-East Asian country was that it also had a small size, in terms of land.
The King stated that sometimes, the Government of Singapore had to extract land from the ocean, in order to expand the country’s surface area. He said he was told that at some point, the Government had to spend US$5 billion to extract about five square kilometres of land.
With the disadvantage the Singaporeans had, the King said the country was able to develop and become another first world country. He said Singapore’s President Tharman Shanmugaratnam stated that they also had plans to work with Africa to develop both Singapore and the African continent.
The King also mentioned that there were programmes already underway, where many Emaswati were being trained on how to manage institutions like the South Koreans and the Singaporeans. He said learning from such people was the right way to achieve what they had already achieved.
His Majesty the King left the country on June 1, 2024, to attend the summit in South Korea and also visited Singapore, before landing yesterday (Thursday, June 13, 2024) at King Mswati III International Airport, at around 10am.
