1. Director-General for Development Cooperation Lee Yong-soo of the Foreign Ministry visited the UNESCO headquarters on February 5, local time, and signed with UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education Qian Tang “the Republic of Korea-UNESCO Letter of Intent on the Implementation on the Joint Initiatives,” including the “Better Life for Girls” initiative. President Park Geun-hye pledged to the international community at the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015 to implement the “Better Life for Girls” initiative.

2. Under the signed Letter of Intent, the Foreign Ministry, through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), will conduct cooperation projects with UNESCO, which will mainly call for providing education on sexual reproductive health to girls in developing countries as well as clean drinking water and sanitation facilities in such countries from 2016 through 2020. Fifteen million US dollars will be used in the initial round of the project, which will be conducted in Nepal, Tanzania and Mali starting in 2016.

° In addition, the two sides will implement a project to support education for Syrian refugees and consult with each other on possible cooperation projects in the cultural sector of developing countries.

3. In December 2015, President Park Geun-hye, for the first time ever for an ROK President, visited the UNESCO headquarters and delivered a special speech expressing the ROK’s commitment to contribute to the international community in the sectors of education, science and culture. In the speech, the President announced that the ROK will implement with UNESCO the “Better Life for Girls” initiative, for which the country will provide 200 million US dollars from 2016 through 2020 for education, health and capacity development projects for girls in developing countries.

° In order to implement the initiative, the ROK government plans to conduct cooperation projects with UNESCO and other international organizations, while undertaking bilateral grant-aid projects as well.

4. UNESCO is a specialized UN agency established in 1945. Its purpose is to promote cooperation and peace in the international community through education, science and culture. UNESCO is well known for its designation and protection of cultural and natural heritages as world heritage.

° On the heels of the Korean War, UNESCO conducted assistance projects in the ROK, including the establishment of a printing factory of state-issued textbooks, the cultivation of agricultural and rural leaders, and the provision of foreign language education.


* unofficial translation