1. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Lee Taeho attended as head delegate from the government of the Republic of Korea the 52nd High Level Meeting of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development held on November 9-10, 2020, in a virtual format.

° The Meeting brought together about 180 people, including ministers and vice ministers of the DAC member states as well as delegates from international organizations, civil societies and businesses, and mainly covered such agenda as financing for sustainable development, a better and greener recovery, and ways for the implementation of more effective development cooperation for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the COVID-19 era.

2. In his keynote speech in the session on “Building Back Better and Greener” on November 10, Vice Minister Lee presented ways to seek a sustainable recovery of developing countries affected by COVID-19 and explained the ROK government’s efforts to support the international community’s response to COVID-19.

° The Vice Minister suggested ways for "Building Back Better and Greener" as follows: better harnessing technology and innovation to adjust to the changing development landscape due to COVID-19 in an environment-friendly and resilient manner; mobilizing private capital and using innovative development financing for achieving the SDGs, including climate change; and promoting partnership in a way that fully respects developing countries’ capability and the sense of ownership by recommitting to the principles of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (GPEDC).

° Vice Minister Lee introduced the ROK’s efforts to support the international community’s response to COVID-19, including its contribution of 510 million U.S. dollars in official development assistance (ODA), sharing its experiences of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its pledge to contribute to the COVID-19 Vaccines Advance Market Commitment (COVAX AMC) for an equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. He added that the ROK, the host of the P4G Summit in 2021 that had announced the “Korean New Deal” and had declared that it aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, is committed to contributing to the international community’s efforts to achieve an environment-friendly recovery as well as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

3. The member states adopted a communiqué as an outcome document of the High Level Meeting, reaffirming that the DAC’s priority remains championing the 2030 Agenda, the achievement of which has become more difficult due to the spread of COVID-19, and suggesting how the DAC can contribute to developing countries’ COVID-19 response in the three aspects of immediate response, building forward better and greener, and development effectiveness.

4. The ROK, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of its accession to the DAC this year, plans to continue taking part in the DAC discussions on supporting developing countries on COVID-19 response and the SDGs implementation.