New South Korean Ambassador Lee Jang-keun has said that Bangladesh is among the “priority partner” countries for Seoul’s official development assistance (ODA) cooperation.
He said Korea was the 9th largest ODA provider to Bangladesh in 2018 with a total disbursement amount of $69 million.
He paid a call on Fatima Yasmin, Secretary of the Economic Relations Division of the Ministry of Finance, on Thursday.
The ambassador expressed his willingness to maintain close cooperation with the ERD regarding the socio-economic development programs of Bangladesh.
In terms of concessional loans, Korea has assisted Bangladesh with 24 development projects worth $1.14 billion through the EDCF (Economic Development Cooperation Fund) of Korea EXIM Bank.
Bangladesh is the 2nd largest recipient of EDCF.
Korea is also providing grant type assistance to Bangladesh with an average annual amount of $17.3 million between 2014 and 2018, mainly through KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency).
Both Korea EXIM Bank and KOICA are operating their country offices in Dhaka.
