Hong Nam-ki "Over $400 Million Emergency Support Within the Year for COVID-19 Health Projects in Developing Countries" (Update)

$110 Million Debt Repayment Suspension for 26 Low-Income Countries

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] On the 27th, Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, announced that "more than 400 million dollars of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) will be urgently supported within the year for COVID-19 health projects in developing countries."

Deputy Prime Minister Hong made this announcement during the 213th Foreign Economic Ministers' Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. He also stated that debt repayment worth approximately 110 million dollars would be deferred for a total of 26 low-income countries, and the capital of three overseas local subsidiaries of the Korea Eximbank, which had not been increased for over 15 years, would be tripled.

Hong said, "Along with strengthening support for export promotion such as trade finance, we will strive to promptly resolve corporate difficulties related to entry restrictions and trade disruptions," adding, "To systematically support the discovery, planning, and bidding of large-scale projects, we will prepare measures to revitalize overseas infrastructure orders by May."

He continued, "As about 40 countries recently requested to share COVID-19 quarantine experiences, we will actively utilize the ‘K-quarantine’ model as an asset to deepen economic cooperation and accelerate the implementation of the New Southern and New Northern policies. In particular, we will steadily promote economic cooperation with key New Northern countries such as Russia and bilateral talks scheduled this year with China and Vietnam."

He also stated, "We will prepare strategies to strengthen the global value chain (GVC), including diversifying export markets and securing stable parts supply chains, as well as upgrading strategies in trade, commerce, and overseas investment."

Deputy Prime Minister Hong further revealed plans to significantly expand the approval scale of ODA for the New Southern and New Northern regions to around 7 billion dollars over three years and to strengthen strategic support.

He said, "We will introduce a guarantee system within the EDCF and establish a guarantee reserve account for its operation, strengthen the discovery of linked grant and loan projects, and especially focus on expanding ODA support in the health and medical fields." He added, "We aim to launch a joint investment fund within the year and will also actively discuss bilateral digital agreements starting with Singapore."

Meanwhile, the meeting discussed ▲ measures to strengthen foreign economic policies ▲ strategic utilization of ODA (Official Development Assistance) ▲ promotion plans for economic cooperation with Russia and Uzbekistan ▲ current status and response measures for digital trade.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.