By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Korea is expected to shift its status from an assistance recipient to a donor as it is waiting for final approval to join the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), a club of 23 donors, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Monday.
The committee will review Korea’s official development assistance (ODA) and will likely endorse its entry into the international forum in Paris, Wednesday, a senior ministry official said.
Once it joins DAC as the 24th nation Korea will be member of all the sub-organizations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Japan is currently the only Asian country on the committee.
``DAC’s panelists visited Korea in June and inspected our aid-providing policies and our practices,’’ Oh Joon, deputy minister for multilateral and global affairs, told reporters. ``They released a report based on the results last month which recommended us for the committee.’’
South Korea will dispatch a delegation comprising of Oh and officials from other ministries to Wednesday’s meeting in order to explain the nation’s ODA-related activities.
``We expect to be given membership and be entitled to work as an official member from Jan. 1 next year,’’ he said.
Oh noted that it was significant to join the international organization, given that South Korea had received aid from the international community for about 50 years.
``We have received $12.7-billion of assistance since the late 1940s. Korea will be the first country which becomes a donor after having been a recipient.’’
The country is also seeking to increase its development assistance.
``We offered aid worth $800 million last year, about 0.09 percent of gross national income, and this year’s amount is estimated to reach $900 million,’’ Oh said.
The government plans to triple the figure from 0.09 to 0.25 percent by 2015, he said.
DAC is considered a unique international forum where donor governments and multilateral organizations such as the World Bank and the United Nations help partner countries reduce poverty and achieve economic development.
The committee issues analysis and guidance in key areas of development and forges ties with other policy communities to coordinate efforts.
The United States, France, Britain, Sweden and 19 other advanced countries belong to DAC and thus, membership of the committee is considered a standard acknowledging a nation as an advanced country.
ksy@koreatimes.co.kr
