SEJONG, May 29 (Yonhap) — South Korea has pledged US$600 million to support growth among African countries, the government said Friday.

A related memorandum of understanding, signed Tuesday with the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast, calls for Seoul to provide soft loans to help various development projects.

The loans from South Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) will be made available until 2018.

“There are a large number of projects waiting for funding in Africa,” the ministry said, pointing out that it bankrolled part of the highway construction work in Ethiopia in 2013.

In addition to the EDCF, which was launched in 1987 to help poor and less-developed countries with low-interest loans, the country agreed on the creation of a separate Korea Africa Economic Cooperation fund and promised to make available $15 million.

This money will be used specifically to assist research and development projects and strengthen technical growth on the continent.