Bangladesh among priority countries for Korea's ODA: Envoy

South Korean Ambassador Lee Jang-keun has said Bangladesh is among the priority partner countries for Korea’s official development assistance (ODA) cooperation.

Korea was the 9th largest ODA provider to Bangladesh in 2018 with a total disbursement amount of 69 million US dollars, according to the OECD statistics, he said.

In terms of concessional loans, Korea has assisted Bangladesh with 24 development projects worth 1.14 billion US dollars through the EDCF (Economic Development Cooperation Fund) of Korea EXIM Bank.

Bangladesh is the second-largest recipient of EDCF, said the Korean Embassy in Dhaka.

Ambassador Lee Jang-keun met Fatima Yasmin, Secretary of the Economic Relations Division of the Ministry of Finance on Thursday, and expressed his willingness to maintain close cooperation with the ERD regarding the socio-economic development programs of Bangladesh.

The Republic of Korea is also providing grant type assistance to Bangladesh with an average annual amount of 17.3 million US dollars between 2014 and 2018, mainly through KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency).

Both Korea EXIM Bank and KOICA are operating their country offices in Dhaka.

(Source: UNB)