1. Oh Young-ju, the Foreign Ministry’s Director-General for Development Cooperation, and Peter Rowe, First Assistant Secretary of the North Asia Division of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), will hold the third Consultation on Development Cooperation Policy between the Republic of Korea and Australia in Seoul on May 27. The forthcoming consultation will take place in two years since the second of its kind held in Canberra, Australia, in 2011.

2. In the upcoming meeting, the two countries will explore ways for bilateral cooperation in the field of development, such as conducting joint cooperation projects. They will also exchange views on key global development issues, including those concerning the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (also known as Busan Global Partnership), the post-2015 development agenda and the G20 development agenda. In addition, the two sides will share their experiences in public-private partnership, which is emerging as a new field of interest in development cooperation.

3. In 2009, the ROK concluded with AusAID, Australia’s ODA implementation agency, a memorandum of understanding calling for cooperation in the development field. The upcoming consultation will mark the first meeting between the foreign ministries of the two countries since AusAID became part of DFAT.

4. Australia is the world’s 10th-largest ODA donor and a major country in the Pacific that proactively implements development cooperation projects for its neighboring countries. In that light, sharing development cooperation policies and experiences with the country is expected to help the ROK in carrying out development cooperation projects in Pacific countries and advancing its ODA system.

5. The ROK Foreign Ministry is proactively carrying out diplomacy for development cooperation, as demonstrated by its regular convening of relevant bilateral consultative mechanisms it has established with nine major donor countries, including the EU and the UK, as well as bilateral consultations on development with the UAE, China and other new, emerging donor countries.


                    Spokesperson and Deputy Minister for Public Relations of MOFA

* unofficial translation