South Korea and more than 40 African nations held a foreign ministerial meeting to discuss cooperation ahead of a leaders' summit later this week, Seoul's foreign ministry has said.

The rare gathering on Sunday came as South Korea is set to host the first-ever Korea-Africa summit for Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing together the leaders of 25 of the 48 participating countries.

The talks were led by Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug, his counterpart from Mauritania, the current rotating chair of the African Union and co-host of the summit.

At the start of the talks, Cho highlighted that South Korea and Africa are "partners" for the present and the future, calling Africa a region with "great growth potential."

"Korea overcame the devastation of war and achieved industrialization and democratization in a short period of time," Cho said in the opening remarks.

South Korea has become the first former aid recipient to join the ranks of official donors, in a dramatic rags-to-riches success story that has no parallel in recent history and has inspired many developing nations to learn from the Asian country's experience and follow in its footsteps to build industry and provide wealth for their populations.

"Korea and Africa are partners who can sincerely communicate with each other and share valuable experiences and lessons because we share no history of colonization and subjugation," Cho said.

"I am confident that combining the strengths of both sides will create the best synergy effect," he added.

Separate signing sessions took place during the foreign ministers' meeting, where Cho signed a number of agreements with countries like Morocco, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Cameroon, on development aid provisions, visa waivers and other things.

On the margins of the talks, Cho also met one-on-one with his counterparts from eight countries: Namibia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Botswana, Madagascar, Cameroon and Mauritania, and discussed bilateral efforts to expand substantive cooperation.

South Korea has called for boosting cooperation with Africa in seven areas -- trade and investment; responses to global challenges; sustainable infrastructure; vocational training and education; digital transformation and science and technology; mutual understanding and promotion of exchanges; and peace and security.

The leaders' summit will take place Tuesday, followed by a business summit Wednesday. (Yonhap)