By Kang Hyun-kyung
The foreign ministers of South Korea and the United States agreed to work together to coordinate development assistance during talks held in Washington, Friday (local time).
Under the framework, Korea’s aid agency will work closely with its U.S. counterpart to improve the health of mothers and children in sub-Saharan Africa. The region is plagued with high child and maternal mortality rates.
The agreement came as Seoul, a new donor nation, has the need to learn expertise from Washington, which has a long history of providing international aid and assistance.
In a statement released Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Minister Kim Sung-hwan and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding on sharing experience and expertise in development aid.
Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the United States Agency for International Cooperation (USAID) will form a working group to discuss details of their partnership.
If necessary, other government ministries or agencies related to aid projects will join a policy consultation meeting.
Asking not to be named, a government official said that maternal and children’s health in sub-Saharan Africa had an urgent need for international support.
According to UNICEF, a woman in the region has a one in 16 chance of dying during pregnancy or childbirth, compared with one in 4,000 in developing countries.
Seoul and Washington have discussed aid cooperation since 2009 and their past years’ consultation came to bear fruit Friday as the two sides signed the agreement.
“South Korea and the United States wanted to make such an agreement when the two foreign ministers and the two chiefs of their respective aid agencies could meet,” the official said.
Korea has already signed such an agreement with Australia and Denmark.
It also has policy consultation meetings on international aid with advanced nations having expertise and knowhow on a regular basis. These include Canada, England, Japan and the European Union.
Additionally, Kim and Clinton exchanged views on a variety of bilateral issues, including North Korea and regional and global agendas.
The South Korean foreign minister went to the United States Monday for a six-day trip that included the talks.
In New York, Kim had conversations with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who was reelected at the U.N. General Assembly earlier this week.
After flying to Washington after wrapping up his schedule in New York, Kim met with think tank experts, U.S. lawmakers and other key figures.