BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO
MANILA (May 30)—To boost the country’s climate resilience and address ocean plastic pollution, the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) and the Korean International Cooperation Agency (Koica) have forged an agreement in their pursuance of development projects in the Philippines.
In a United States Embassy press statement, these leading development assistance agencies of the United States of America and the Republic of Korea said they have signed a memorandum of agreement (MoU) on April 7, 2021 to explore potential partnership in an array of sectors.
The US Embassy said their partnership projects include poverty reduction in rural areas, empowerment of women and girls, water resource management, community rehabilitation in Marawi, and climate resilience.
Under a project titled “Climate Resilient Cities,” the US Embassy said both countries aim to strengthen the resilience of Philippine cities to address the growing climate threats and vulnerability and pursue Marine Litter Management initiatives to mitigate the impacts of ocean plastic pollution.
On May 21, 2021, the Korea-US Summit was conducted in Washington D.C. and one of the key elements of the Joint Statement and the Joint Fact Sheet of the Summit was on expanding the US-Korea partnership in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines.
John Law, US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires, noted that for the past 75 years, the US has been a strong friend, partner and ally of the Philippine government in achieving its long-term vision of sustainable and inclusive growth for the Filipino people.
“Our work with like-minded partners like Korea will further advance our shared development objectives as we support the Philippines in its journey to self-reliance,” Law said.
For his part, Korean Ambassador Inchul Kim said Korea is glad to strengthen its partnership with the US in the areas of development cooperation in the Philippines as reflected in the MoU in April and highlighted in last week’s Korea-US Summit.
“We will continue to work closely together in the Philippines to promote sustainable development in the Bayanihan spirit, particularly in addressing challenges faced by Philippine cities and vulnerable communities amid rising climate change concerns, among others,” Kim said.
Both countries are among the largest bilateral donors in the Philippines. Korea is the second-largest development assistance country donor and has expanded its development assistance in both grants and budgetary support in the Philippines for the past 30 years.