Ministry of Foreign Affairs and KOICA Celebrate 10th Anniversary of OECD DAC Membership with 'Development Cooperation Day' Ceremony

November 25 Development Cooperation Day... Established to Commemorate Korea's OECD DAC Membership
High-Level Discussion on 'South Korea's ODA: The Past 10 Years and the Next 10 Years'

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 25th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and KOICA held the ‘2020 Development Cooperation Day Ceremony’ online via YouTube and Facebook to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Korea’s accession to the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Development Cooperation Day was established to commemorate Korea’s accession to the OECD DAC on November 25, 2009. The ‘2020 Development Cooperation Day Ceremony’ was held online in accordance with social distancing measures so that more people could participate and reflect on its significance amid the COVID-19 situation.

Held under the theme “Beautiful Miracles, Dreaming of a Better World,” the ceremony featured congratulatory and commemorative speeches by Angel Gurria, Secretary-General of the OECD; Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun; Song Young-gil, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee; Kang Kyung-wha, Minister of Foreign Affairs; and Hong Nam-ki, Minister of Economy and Finance and Deputy Prime Minister, along with a special video commemorating the 10th anniversary of DAC membership.

Following the ceremony, a high-level forum titled “Korea’s ODA: The Past 10 Years and the Next 10 Years” was held. The forum was chaired by Oh Young-joo, Director of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, and included participants such as Cho Young-moo, Director of the Development Cooperation Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Park Jae-shin, Director of KOICA’s Asia Business Strategy Headquarters; Kim Tae-soo, Head of the Economic Cooperation Headquarters at the Export-Import Bank of Korea; Jang Hye-young, Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Chung-Ang University; and Shin Jae-eun, Head of the Policy and Education Center at the Korea NGO Council for Overseas Development Cooperation (KCOC). They evaluated Korea’s ODA achievements over the past decade since joining DAC and intensively discussed the challenges and priorities for the next ten years.

At the forum, Cho Young-moo, Director of the Development Cooperation Bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, “Last year, Korea’s ODA volume reached 2.52 billion USD, more than doubling over the past ten years. Through legal and institutional improvements, we have strengthened the system and effectiveness of development cooperation projects. We have also expanded the development cooperation ecosystem through collaboration with various stakeholders such as the private sector, civil society, and academia, and have continuously worked to enhance the self-reliance and ownership of developing countries.”

Park Jae-shin, Director of KOICA’s Asia Business Strategy Headquarters, stated, “Although Korea’s ODA volume is relatively small compared to other advanced countries, we have strived to apply Korea’s unique strength of having experienced stepwise development from low-income to high-income status to development cooperation projects. Even amid the COVID-19 situation, we are mobilizing 30 years of experience to strengthen health and medical capacities and enhance socio-economic resilience in developing countries.”

Kim Tae-soo, Head of the Economic Cooperation Headquarters at the Export-Import Bank of Korea, said, “The Export-Import Bank has quantitatively and qualitatively expanded support for economic development and infrastructure in developing countries. Going forward, we will enhance project effectiveness through a combination of concessional and non-concessional cooperation and financial resource blending, and in the post-COVID era, we will strive to expand support in the public health and medical sectors.”

The forum also included participation from the general public, overseas diplomatic missions, and KOICA offices via an online video conferencing system, providing a Q&A session on topics such as expanding cooperation with NGOs, the roles and policy directions of concessional and non-concessional aid, and ways to enter the development cooperation sector.

Im Mi-kyung, President of KOICA, said, “Joining the DAC can be seen as Korea’s expression of its determination to contribute actively to the international community. Over the past ten years, Korea has been one of the countries that increased its ODA budget at the most vigorous pace, which proves that our national power has grown accordingly and that the international community has come to need Korea’s assistance.”