KOICA supports Divi Neguma

Tuesday, 29 October 2013 00:51 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Deputy Minister of Economic Development M.L.A.M. Hizbullah said that he highly valued the efficiency of development cooperation between the Republic of Korea and Sri Lanka during the past years, especially in education and healthcare. He said this when he met Young-Mok Kim President of the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), at the Ministry office recently. Deputy Minister Hizbullah noted that Sri Lanka was trying to benchmark Korea’s best practices which were based on management concepts. The KOICA Head, Ambassador Young-Mok Kim has shown interest in supporting and helping the development of the Divi Neguma national development program, small industries and the technical sector in collaboration with the Minister of Economic Development. They also expressed their interest in developing the education and environment sectors too. The capacity building for the Divi Neguma Program was also discussed. The Deputy Minister pointed out over 2.5 million people are participating in the Divi Neguma national program; the progress of which is already being monitored by economic development officers, grama niladharis and other facilitators. He said that this has caused vegetable prices to go down and more nutritious food to be available for consumers. The consumption of fruits and vegetables per person has increased as a result, he added.

Supporting common development Ambassador Kim Young Mok said his agency is interested in supporting the common development of both countries. He noted that KOICA is now providing official development assistance to many countries, among which Sri Lanka has used the assistance effectively. Founded in 1991 as a main development assistance channel of the Korean Government, KOICA provides development assistance for 44 developing countries worldwide. KOICA grant aid programs include development assistance for poverty alleviation, economic infrastructure development, enhancing good governance, capacity building for public sector and supporting the education sector in secondary education and technical and vocational training. The International Convention Centre in Hambantota, the venue of the Commonwealth Youth Forum 2013 is a landmark KOICA funded project that will contribute to the promotion of tourism, regional development and socio-economic growth in Sri Lanka. The Korean Ambassador in Sri Lanka Jong Moon Chol and Economic Development Ministry Additional Secretary Priyantha Mayadunne were among those who participated in the discussion at the Ministry.