(Yonhap) -- World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim will travel to South Korea next week to strengthen partnerships between the two sides, his office announced Friday.

   Kim's three-day trip from Tuesday is intended to open a new World Bank office in Songdo, an artificial island about 35 miles west of Seoul, and discuss South Korea's growing role in global development and to promote investment opportunities for Korean companies in Africa, it said.

   "Korea is a great development success story which many African countries look to as a model. The new World Bank Group Office brings together the public and private sector sides of our operation, so we can help bring Korea's experience to other developing countries to end extreme poverty and build shared prosperity,” Kim, born in South Korea, said in a press release.

   On Tuesday, he plans to deliver a speech in Seoul on building cooperation between South Korea and Africa.

   The following day, Kim will open the new World Bank Office in Songdo and take part in the launch of the Green Climate Fund Secretariat. He will also attend a forum hosted by Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul on education, competitiveness and innovation.

   It would be his second visit to Korea since taking up the post in July last year.

   Speaking to Korea correspondents here last week, Kim said his group is ready to provide aid to North Korea in the event of a "political breakthrough."