On Monday, October 20, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Jina met with Mr. Haoliang Xu, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Acting Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) who is visiting Korea to attend an APEC Finance Ministerial Meeting, and discussed ways to further advance Korea-UNDP cooperation.

※ As part of the leadership transition at UNDP in June 2025, the UN Secretary-General officially designated Mr. Xu as Acting Administrator of UNDP.

Vice Minister Kim noted that despite the multiple challenges facing international development cooperation, the Korea-UNDP partnership has continued to make progress. She emphasized that it is particularly important for the Korea-UNDP R.E.V.I.V.E initiative to achieve tangible results -- the initiative launched this year in areas including Palestine, Afghanistan and Myanmar, where humanitarian crisis persists due to conflicts. On that note, she called for rigorous implementation management measures to ensure that the R.E.V.I.V.E initiative helps effectively respond to humanitarian needs of around 2.7 million people and serves as a foundation for mid- to long-term development. She also requested that the UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC) further expand its role in sharing Korea’s successful development experiences with developing countries.

※  The ROK-UNDP R.E.V.I.V.E (Relief, Employment and Vital Infrastructure for the Vulnerable in Emergencies) brand was launched this year to provide humanitarian assistance in areas including Palestine, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Syria, etc., with a focus on crisis recovery such as through debris removal.

※ The UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC) opened in 2011 to share Korea’s development experiences with developing countries.

Acting Administrator Xu expressed his deep appreciation to the Korean government for continuously stepping up its cooperation with UNDP amid the challenging global development environment and expressed his hope for further expanded partnerships not only with the government but with private sectors of Korea. He also affirmed that UNDP would make utmost efforts to ensure that its joint initiatives with Korea, including humanitarian assistance flagship projects, contribute effectively to resolving humanitarian crises and supporting sustainable development of developing countries.

Both sides agreed to seek ways to work strategically together to respond to global humanitarian crises by leveraging a harmonious nexus of Korea’s successful development experiences, its strong areas and UNDP’s programmatic expertise, despite the challenging environment for global development cooperation.