Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sets 3 Trillion Won Budget for Next Year, 5.7% Increase Including COVID-19 Expenses

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on the 1st that it plans to submit a 2022 budget proposal of 3.0023 trillion won to the National Assembly. This is a 5.7% increase from this year's 2.8409 trillion won.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has significantly expanded its Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget to participate in international efforts to overcome COVID-19 and resolve the global health crisis, setting it at 1.1149 trillion won, a 17.3% increase from this year's 950.5 billion won.

The budget for humanitarian aid projects, including fulfilling the pledge to contribute 100 million dollars to the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility (COVAX AMC) for vaccine supply, was set at 236.6 billion won, nearly double this year's 124.1 billion won.

The disease eradication fund also increased significantly from 42.8 billion won this year to 62.4 billion won next year.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs allocated a budget for global multilateral diplomacy to strengthen cooperation with the United Nations, the Group of Seven (G7), the Group of Twenty (G20), and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), increasing from 1.3 billion won this year to 2.3 billion won next year, a 1 billion won increase.

Through this, the government plans to actively pursue lobbying activities to gain support for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2024?2025 term.

Next year, the budget for major diplomatic commemorative projects, such as the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations with the United States and the 30th anniversary with China, was increased from 4 billion won this year to 7.2 billion won.

The budget for protecting overseas nationals increased from 11 billion won this year to 14.6 billion won next year.

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