OECD Development Assistance Committee Member Countries Give 'Passing Grade' to Korea's International Development Cooperation Policy

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Son Seon-hee] The Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) gave a positive evaluation on June 2nd regarding South Korea's policies related to Official Development Assistance (ODA), stating that "substantial results are being shown."

According to related ministries including the Office for Government Policy Coordination, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, OECD DAC disclosed the results of the mid-term peer review on the same day.

The peer review is a mutual review among DAC member countries on policy and institutional improvements, conducted every five years. The mid-term review conducted this time was to check the implementation status of recommendations made during the peer review. The OECD DAC Secretariat carried out the mid-term review over three days: May 7-8 and 10.

During the 2017 peer review, OECD DAC recommended South Korea improve 12 items related to ODA. The mid-term review results positively evaluated that South Korea has taken measures on 11 of these items. In particular, South Korea's roles in the full revision of the Framework Act on International Development Cooperation, the establishment of the 3rd Comprehensive Basic Plan for International Development Cooperation, and serving as the DAC Vice-Chair country were recognized. However, regarding "enhancing policy coherence," it was noted that South Korea, along with other member countries, needs to make more efforts in this area.

Furthermore, South Korea's support for developing countries during the COVID-19 crisis?including provision of quarantine supplies and funds, sharing of quarantine experience, introduction of the emergency disaster response loan system, conducting non-face-to-face projects, and remote volunteer activities?was highly praised.

Especially, OECD DAC welcomed South Korea's pledge to more than double its ODA budget by 2030 compared to 2019. However, it recommended regularly resetting ODA budget targets to achieve the 2030 goal of "ODA to Gross National Income (ODA/GNI) ratio of 0.3%."

The government stated, "Based on the results of this mid-term review, we will continuously pursue the implementation of the 12 recommendations and accelerate efforts to improve our ODA policies and systems, thereby further strengthening our position as an advanced donor country."

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