South Korea and Laos held a policy consultation meeting on official development assistance (ODA) programs meant to help the Southeast Asian country graduate from the least developed country status, Seoul's finance ministry said Thursday. The bilateral ODA policy consultation meeting, the third of its kind, took place in Vientiane on Tuesday after a four-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. During the meeting, the two nations agreed to expand cooperation on water resources, energy, hygiene, education and regional development, among other fields, under the ODA platform. They also shared the need to renew the Framework Arrangement of the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), which expired last year, and discussed candidate projects. "Such cooperative projects are expected to help Laos achieve the goal of graduating from least developed country status by 2026," a ministry official said. The meeting brought together officials from South Korea's fi nance and foreign ministries, as well as the Export-Import Bank of Korea and relevant institutions for comprehensive discussions on the envisioned projects. South Korea set aside a record budget of 6.26 trillion won (US$4.27 billion) for this year's ODA programs in an effort to take full responsibility as a global leader. South Korea launched the EDCF program in 1987 with the purpose of supporting economic and social infrastructure projects in developing countries. Source: Yonhap News Agency
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