KRG, KOICA ink deal on cancer diagnosis

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Health on Sunday signed an agreement with the South Korean Korea International Cooperation Agency, known as KOICA, in the field of cancer treatment and early diagnosis.

Minister of Health Saman Barzinji on Sunday announced the agreement along with the KOICA officials in Erbil, where the Kurdish official extended his appreciation for the Asian development agency’s support for the Kurdish region.

The Agency has conducted “professional and scientific studies” on cancer in the Kurdistan Region in a bid to obtain funding and support for a new endeavor, Barzinji said.

The Kurdish official hoped that the South Korean agency to continue its support for the Kurdish healthcare workers, including through the provision of training.

The Ministry of Health is one of the “most important partners” in the Kurdistan Region, a KOICA official said in the presser, highlighting the establishment’s work in the Kurdish region since 2006.

The KOICA has undertaken several development projects in the Kurdistan Region.

The relations Korean government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) started when the former dispatched the Korean military's Zaytun Division to the autonomous region in 2004. That division was tasked with rebuilding and economically developing the Kurdistan Region during the Iraq War, a former consul general of the country in Erbil told Kurdistan24 in 2021.