KRG, KOICA sign memorandum of understanding on $12 million-worth projects

Another million will be dedicated to projects for the KRG Ministry of Culture and Youth.

Kurdistan 24 2024/02/08 16:14

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Ministry of Education on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with the South Korean development agency known as KOICA in Erbil to implement a $12 million project in the education sector.

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Education Alan Hama Saeed along with other senior Kurdish officials attended the signing ceremony along with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Resident Representative in Erbil Ko HeeSeok and the Asian country’s envoy to the Kurdish capital Seungcheol Lim.

The projects will include renovating 20 schools in Erbil along with building a training center for teachers, Minister Hama Saeed said, adding the budget that has been provided by KOICA for the education projects is estimated to be $11 million.

Another million dollars will be dedicated to projects for the KRG Ministry of Culture and Youth.

“We will continue providing ongoing support and collaboration for the prosperity and development of the KRG,” HeeSeok said in his remarks.

The Kurdish education minister and head of the KRG Department of Foreign Relations Safeen Dizayee similarly extended their gratitude to the Republic of Korea for its continued support for the Kurdistan Region following the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Attended the signing ceremony of the #MoU between #KRG Ministry of Education and #KOICA agency to implement several educational projects in Erbil. Thanks to the Government and Consulate of Korea, the agency and our institutions for the successful partnership and achievement. pic.twitter.com/hmjGfXhoAg
— Safeen Dizayee (@SafeenDizayee) February 8, 2024

In late January, the South Korean agency inked another memorandum of understanding with the KRG Ministry of Health to conduct a project on early cancer diagnosis.

The KOICA has undertaken several other 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.