Korea-English, Identification of Grant and Loan Public Aid Projects... Strategic Cooperation in Digital and Climate Fields

South Korea and the United Kingdom have agreed to cooperate in discovering public development assistance (ODA) projects, including common areas of interest such as digital technology, climate and environment, as well as concessional and non-concessional aid.

The government announced on the 23rd that Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho and Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Jin met with UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron in London on the 21st (local time) and signed the "Korea-UK Strategic Development Partnership."

This partnership was established on the occasion of President Yoon Suk-yeol's state visit to the UK, commemorating the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and the UK. It is a follow-up measure to the "Korea-UK Strategic Development Partnership Memorandum of Understanding" signed by both countries in May.

The two countries plan to cooperate based on three pillars in common interest areas such as digital technology, climate and environment, health, private cooperation and development finance, and the women's sector: international development partnership (Pillar 1), sharing development experience and capacity building (Pillar 2), and cooperation within multilateral frameworks (Pillar 3).

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho, together with Foreign Minister Park Jin, is taking a commemorative photo after signing the 'Korea-UK Strategic Development Partnership' agreement with David Cameron, UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, in London, UK, on the 21st (local time).

In particular, in the concessional aid sector, cooperative projects will be promoted between the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) and the UK International Investment Corporation. They plan to diversify project discovery channels in preparation for the expansion of next year’s ODA budget.

In the non-concessional aid sector, they will explore ways to jointly pursue projects with the UK during the project discovery process targeting the Indo-Pacific region. They also plan to expand personnel exchanges and information sharing in the development cooperation field to strengthen expertise and promote bilateral cooperation on multilateral platforms.

This is the first time that South Korea’s international development cooperation system, where concessional aid is led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and non-concessional aid by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has established an integrated partnership with an advanced donor country covering both concessional and non-concessional aid.

An official from the Ministry of Economy and Finance said, "On the occasion of the 140th anniversary of Korea-UK diplomatic relations, we have laid the foundation to strengthen future-oriented cooperation between the two countries in the field of development cooperation. Based on this, it is significant that we have agreed to cooperate to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of developing countries."

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