The United States and South Korea, two of the largest bilateral donors in the Philippines, have formed a partnership to pursue joint development projects to boost the country’s climate resilience and address ocean plastic pollution.
In a statement, the US Embassy in Manila said the partnership is a result of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) on April 7, 2021 to explore potential collaboration in several sectors, including poverty reduction in rural areas, empowerment of women and girls, water resource management, community rehabilitation in Marawi, and climate resilience.
In the memorandum, the US and Korea have agreed to jointly pursue a “Climate Resilient Cities'' project to strengthen the resilience of Philippine cities against growing climate threats and vulnerability, and Marine Litter Management initiatives to mitigate the impacts of ocean plastic pollution.
On May 21, 2021, Korea and the US conducted a Summit in Washington, D.C. where they discussed the expansion of their partnership in Southeast Asia, including in the Philippines.
”For the past 75 years, the United States 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,” US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires John Law said.
Law added that the US work with like-minded partners like Korea will further advance their shared development objectives in supporting the Philippines’ “journey to self-reliance”.
Korean Ambassador to Manila Inchul Kim said they 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.
“Korea is glad to strengthen its partnership with the US in the areas of development cooperation in the Philippines as reflected in the MOU last month and highlighted in last week’s Korea-U.S. Summit,” he said.
As one of the largest bilateral donors along with the US over the past three decades, Korea has expanded its development assistance in both grants and budgetary support and is the second-largest development assistance country donor in the Philippines.