Changing the World's Poorest Countries with 'Saemaeul'... Gyeongbuk Province, Ajin Industry, and Saemaeul Foundation Join Hands

On the 8th at 11 a.m., Gyeongbuk Province will sign an MOU with Ajin Industrial Co., Ltd. and the Saemaul Foundation at the provincial office to promote an ODA project in the Central African Republic.

Through this memorandum of understanding, Gyeongbuk Province, together with Ajin Industrial, aims to transfer the successful experiences of the Republic of Korea's Saemaul Undong (New Village Movement) and the secrets of success from previously implemented projects to the Saemaul Foundation to help eradicate poverty and promote sustainable development in the Central African Republic.

Gyeongbuk Provincial Government Office

Gyeongbuk Province has been striving to establish the achievements of the 18-year Saemaul Undong globalization project as a model for national transformation projects beyond just “villages.”

They are strengthening cooperative relationships with top government officials locally and promoting the Saemaul governance national development project to transform the entire country, moving beyond pilot projects limited to certain regions.

The visits of national leaders such as the President of the Central African Republic, the Prime Minister of C?te d'Ivoire, the Prime Minister and Speaker of the National Assembly of Sri Lanka to Gyeongbuk Province, requesting expansion of the project, are good examples showing that the Saemaul Undong globalization project has established itself as a Saemaul ODA model for national transformation.

Despite possessing natural resources such as uranium, crude oil, gold, and diamonds, the Central African Republic is one of the poorest countries in the world with a poverty rate of 80%. Although most of its population is engaged in agriculture, the per capita GDP is only $511.5, and the country still suffers from poverty and hunger.

Faustin-Archange Touad?ra, President of the Central African Republic, stated that the development and experience of the Republic of Korea, which has risen to become a global economic power, have been a great example through his visit to Gyeongbuk Province last year and the Korea-Central African Republic summit held in September this year. He revealed that he is benchmarking the Saemaul Undong, which was the foundation of Korea’s development.

Gyeongbuk Province has conducted grassroots projects through Saemaul pilot village projects and now aims to upgrade the Saemaul Undong as a development policy of developing countries’ governments to ensure its establishment and focus on national expansion.

Ajin Industrial, a regional mid-sized company established in 1978, manufactures automobile parts and has been providing vehicles and daily necessities to the Central African Republic on a humanitarian basis since 2017.

Through this agreement, Ajin Industrial plans to support financially and technically various global CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities, including increasing rice production, supporting agricultural equipment, and providing resident capacity-building education, which are strategic pilot projects in the Central African Republic.

The Saemaul Foundation, which is implementing the project, plans to utilize its accumulated know-how to enhance the project’s completeness and help create a new Central African Republic.

Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, said, “So far, some Saemaul projects have been promoted with local government budgets, but we are grateful that a model local company is contributing to the global ODA project.” He added, “We will continuously improve the project’s completeness through the Saemaul Foundation and actively discover ODA projects and participate in ODA public contests together with companies, NGOs, universities, and research institutions.”

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