Partnerships with Korean agencies key to Quang Tri’s development: Provincial Vice Chairman

For the past 22 years, South Korean agencies, organizations, and investors have funded the province with US$25 million to implement social welfare and climate change response projects and fix the consequences of natural disasters.

Vice Chairman of the Quang Tri Provincial People’s Committee Hoang Nam, on September 4, credited South Korean partners for their help in raising the province’s socio-economic conditions.

The remarks were made at a meeting as the vice chairman and officials of Quang Tri Province are taking a business trip in South Korea at the invite of Korea International Cooperation Agency (Koica) and Medipeace Vietnam from September 3 to September 9.

Hoang Nam, Vice Chairman of the Quang Tri Provincial People’s Committee, delivers his remarks at the meeting on September 4. Photo: Van Bien

The Vietnamese delegation also features Le Quang Chien, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Council.

According to Vice Chairman Nam, Quang Tri Province and South Korean partners began their partnerships in 2001, and the Eastern Asia nation is now one of the most important partners to the province in many sectors.

For the past 22 years, South Korean agencies, organizations, and investors have funded the province with US$25 million to implement social welfare and climate change response projects and fix the consequences of natural disasters.

Several key projects include the development of the new-standard rural area, the construction of the Vinh Linh District General Hospital, the improvement of capacity for the provincial Vocational School, the Happiness Program, and the enhancement of professional competency for medical staff to treat people with disabilities.

“The Korea-funded projects in Quang Tri Province have upgraded the local infrastructures, improved the quality of the health and education sectors, lifted the living conditions for people, and assisted the province in its poverty reduction activities,” Nam said.

He said that the provincial government and their subordinate agencies always pay attention to boosting the living standards for people, especially poor and disabled individuals.

However, the vice chairman said the province had encountered impacts of natural disasters and difficulties caused by the wars, which have remained ever since.

“The percentage of the families with sub-par living conditions is still high, and many families with handicapped members are now in difficulty,” he said.

Official delegation of Quang Tri Province gift the province’s South Korean partners. Photo: Van Bien

Quang Tri Province has nearly 27,000 people with disabilities, of which 15,500 persons are affected by Agent Orange, and more than 8,500 people are wounded by unexploded ordnance (31% of which are children), he said.

To meet the needs of the province and its people with disabilities, Koica will help develop a rehabilitation center that cares for people with disabilities. The project, worth VND293 billion (US$12 million), will be complete by 2025. Konica will fund 95% of the project expenses.

Quang Tri Province and Koica have cleared all administrative requirements, and the project is underway.

Nam said the center’s development “means so much for the people of Quang Tri Province” as it "sets an example in taking care of people with disabilities in Vietnam."

During the business trip, Quang Tri officials will visit the Vietnamese Embassy in South Korea and hold talks with South Korean partners in the capital city of Seoul.

Notably, the Vietnamese delegation will meet the Governor of the self-governed Gangwon State, which shares some commonalities with Quang Tri Province in culture and history, with expectations to boost local-to-local cooperation between the two localities.

Vietnam and South Korea have become key partners to each other, with remarkable achievements being reached in all fields after the two nations' diplomatic relations were set up on December 22, 1992.

Cooperation in trade and economic development is the key foundation that propels the two nations' bilateral relationship. South Korea is the biggest foreign direct investor to Vietnam, the second biggest partner in official development assistance (ODA) project funding, workforce exchange, and tourism, and the third largest trade partner.

Meanwhile, Vietnam is South Korea’s biggest economic partner in the ASEAN community. Vietnam now accounts for 30% of South Korean overseas investment and 50% of its trade value with ASEAN economies.

Van Bien - Huy Anh