New Organization for International Development Cooperation System... Secretariat to Be Established within the National Office for Government Policy Coordination by Year-End

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] On the 17th, the government held the 57th Cabinet Meeting chaired by President Moon Jae-in and announced that it deliberated and approved the complete revision of the Enforcement Decree of the "Framework Act on International Development Cooperation."

The approved revision of the Enforcement Decree on this day is intended to specify matters delegated by law in accordance with the full revision of the Framework Act on International Development Cooperation, which was passed by the National Assembly on April 29 and will be enforced on the 27th of this month.

The Framework Act on International Development Cooperation was enacted in 2010 when South Korea joined the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a consultative body of advanced donor countries.

Since 2010, our ODA has experienced remarkable growth, increasing by an average of 11.9% annually (ranked first among DAC member countries) over the past 10 years.

On the other hand, the National Assembly and civil society have raised issues such as insufficient comprehensive strategies, lack of linkage between concessional and grant aid projects, fragmentation among grant aid projects, and poor post-management.

Accordingly, to reestablish a promotion system suitable for the new era, the government prepared the "ODA Promotion System Reform Plan" in June 2018, and the full revision of the Framework Act on International Development Cooperation was approved by the National Assembly last April.

The revision of the Enforcement Decree of the Framework Act on International Development Cooperation established procedures for formulating medium-term support strategies for priority partner countries, specified efforts to reflect evaluation results of ODA project implementing agencies, and regulated detailed matters related to the composition and operation of the Development Cooperation Strategy Meeting.

The government plans to establish the secretariat of the International Development Cooperation Committee within the Office for Government Policy Coordination by the end of the year to support the committee in smoothly performing its function as the ODA control tower. Centered on the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the government will innovate the entire ODA work system?from strategy formulation to project linkage and coordination, inspection and evaluation, and post-management?in cooperation with related ministries such as the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in line with the purpose of the revision of the Framework Act on International Development Cooperation.

Additionally, the International Development Cooperation Committee will establish the "3rd Basic Plan for International Development Cooperation (2021?2025)" by the end of the year and newly designate priority partner countries, thereby setting a new mid- to long-term policy direction for our ODA in the future.