1. The Foreign Ministry will hold the 2017 interagency meeting on foreign grants on May 2 to complete the work on the comprehensive plan on grant aid for the year 2018. Second Vice Foreign Minister Ahn Chong-ghee will preside over the meeting.

° The Foreign Ministry, the government agency that oversees grant aid pursuant to the Framework Act on International Development Cooperation, holds the interagency meeting every April or May to determine the suitability of grant aid projects planned by government agencies as official development assistance (ODA) projects; and to seek ways to prevent the implementation of overlapping projects, enhance the connectivity among projects, ease fragmentation in grants, and step up interagency coordination.

2. The Foreign Ministry has received from 34 agencies plans to conduct a combined 1,354 grant aid projects worth 1.8037 trillion won in 2018, up 17% from the 1,249 projects worth 1.5441 trillion won they had applied for in the previous year.

° Government agencies of the Republic of Korea have been taking a keener interest and a more active part in international development cooperation of late, and it is becoming increasingly important to earn trust from the public on the ODA policy. Amid this, the importance of these interagency meetings is growing.

※ According to their plans for 2018, the implementing agencies seek to extend 47% of the grants to Asia, 29% to Africa, 12% to Latin America and 9% to the Middle East and members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in line with the ROK’s policy calling for rendering the greater part of assistance to Asia and increasing cooperation with Africa.

- In comparison with the figures for 2017, the proposed portion for Asia decreased to 47% from the 49% for 2017, and that for Africa increased to 29% from the 23% for 2017.

3. For the first time, the Foreign Ministry had its overseas missions review and present their views on the progress in the implementation of the ROK’s grant aid projects, and took them into consideration in the review of the possible new projects. In addition, for some of the projects, the Ministry held in-depth consultations with their applicants.

° Unlike in 2016, after consultations of relevant regional and sectoral sub-committees, the Foreign Ministry decided to conduct some of the major projects in conjunction with each other or in an integrated manner, marking an improvement in the procedure and content of the ODA implementation.

※ In the first-ever review of the progress in the implementation of grant aid projects, overseas diplomatic missions focused on main projects under way in their host countries. For the projects considered problematic or requiring close attention, continued efforts will be made to keep them on the right track.

※ Ahead of the interagency meeting, a total of eleven consultations took place among the regional and sectoral sub-committees.

4. Amid the rise of the number of ODA-implementing government agencies and with ODA budget having been selected as part of the interagency budget for 2018, interagency cooperation is increasingly called for.

° The Foreign Ministry, the overseer of grant aid, will seek to make the most of the interagency meetings and will put forward realistic ways for cooperation in continued efforts to improve its ODA effectiveness and step up interagency coordination.

※ The Foreign Ministry is mulling over holding two rounds of the interagency meeting in 2017 instead of the usual one a year.

- At the meeting in the first half of the year, the grant aid projects for next year will be adjusted, while the meeting in the second half will focus on enhancing cooperation among implementing agencies.

- The Foreign Ministry plans to hold in-depth consultations with KOICA and the other implementing agencies to learn about their needs, gradually ease the fragmentation in grant aid, and thereby boost cooperation in the area.


* unofficial translation