|
|
|
 |
 |
Asia is the most populated continent and two out of every three people there live in extreme poverty. The continent is culturally diverse and composed of various ethnic groups who have different languages, traditions, histories and cultures.
Despite the recent global financial crisis, the region has seen significant economic growth, especially in China, with an average annual economic growth rate of 13%, and India with a rate of 9%. Developing countries, such as Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Vietnam, etc. are also recording rapid growth rates greater than or equal to 6% per year. These types of growth rates will be positive factors in achieving the MDGs.
However, there are wide disparities among and within countries, between the urban and rural areas, and among different classes. In particular, a lot of progress has been made with regard to universal primary education in East Asian countries, such as Indonesia, Mongolia, Vietnam, etc. However, in South Asia, the primary school graduation rate remains low even though the admission rate has improved. In addition, although progress has been made with regard to gender equality in education, progress related to women’s political participation and women’s empowerment remain inadequate. Also, progress in relation to maternal and infant mortality rates remains slow in Pakistan and other Southwest Asian countries. In Afghanistan, the infant mortality rate is still in a serious state.
The stark contrasts found in the region need to be alleviated. As a result, Asia has always been a priority region for KOICA as Korea maintains close economic, diplomatic and cultural ties with Asian countries. Particularly, the ASEAN-Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit was held in June 2009. Through the summit, progress is expected in alleviating development gaps between ASEAN nations and assistance is expected to gradually increase.
Accordingly, overseas assistance for the Asian region is expected to increase to ensure equal economic growth. Through these efforts, assistance for global issues will be expanded to include the alleviation of development gaps, infrastructure assistance, improvement of the public sector system and ensuring transparency by building capacity, climate change, food security, etc.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| |
|
| |
 |
KOICA delivered 39.7% of its total budget or USD 109.3 million to support 29 countries in the Asian region (21 countries in Asia and 8 countries in Oceania), which is an increase of 23.6% from the USD 88.4 million in 2007, and confirmed Asia as KOICA’s primary region for foreign aid. Among Asian partner countries, Cambodia received the largest volume of aid with USD 13.1 million, followed by Mongolia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The top five partners in the region received 19.5% of KOICA’s total project budget or 49.2% of budget allocation focused on Asia. Cooperation programs were launched in various sectors, such as education, health, industry & energy, and ICT
|
| Top 5 Asian partner countries (USD
in Million)
|
| |
| Assistance by Sectoral priority in Asia
(USD in Million)
|
| |
 |
| |
