The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has been working in Egypt since the late 1990s, helping to implement sustainable development and other programmes in close cooperation with the Egyptian Government, as KOICA Egypt Country Director Jinyoung Kim explained in an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly.
What is KOICA’s mission in Egypt?
The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) is a Korean Government agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dedicated to implementing grant aid programmes aiming to combat poverty and support sustainable socio-economic growth in developing countries around the world.
The KOICA Egypt Office, established in 1998, provides technical education for young people in Egypt, supports the digitisation of government services and systems, and carries out programmes to address gender-based violence and strengthen women’s empowerment and to support vulnerable groups.
In particular, KOICA has been expanding its cooperation with and resources for Egypt as a priority partner country and exploring opportunities to support its pivotal role in the region.
How many projects has KOICA implemented in Egypt since its establishment and what is their estimated cost?
KOICA has implemented 15 infrastructure/technical assistance projects in the fields of vocational technical training for young people, government services enhancement, waste management, and the promotion of gender equality. More than 1,850 government officials have participated in capacity building trainings in Korea, including a Master’s degree programme. 320 volunteers were dispatched to Egypt to government/public entities such as universities, youth centres, and technical schools, as well as UN partners in the areas of education, ICT, and technical training. Around $74 million had been disbursed up until 2021 to support social and economic development in Egypt.
What sectors does KOICA focus on in its projects in Egypt?
Egypt has been one of the Korean government’s priority partner countries for development cooperation since 2021, and the Korean Government has developed a Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for Egypt based on consultation with the Egyptian government. The Korean government has supported the socio-economic development of Egypt in line with the Sustainable Development Strategy of Egypt’s Vision 2030 with the five focus areas of cooperation on transportation, environment and energy, public administration, education, and communication and information technology.
The KOICA Egypt Office has developed the Country Plan for Egypt in the framework of the CPS and in line with the Egyptian government’s national priorities. KOICA’s Egypt Country Plan aims to enhance the capacity for sustainable development and to reduce economic and social inequality in Egypt. It has three pillars that reflect the most relevant agenda in achieving Sustainable Development Goals: employment and youth participation; the digital transition of government services; and the promotion of gender equality and social integration.
Combating climate change is another area in which KOICA is keen to contribute its efforts and resources. Under the Country Programme framework, infrastructure and technical assistance projects, capacity building and training programmes for government officials, and the dispatch of experts/volunteers to government/public and UN entities are being carried out in an interlinked way in order to achieve the objectives.
The total project budget for the 2023-25 portfolio of infrastructure projects is estimated at approximately $60 million.
How do you perceive the digital transformation landscape in Egypt?
KOICA perceives the Egyptian government’s urge to leverage the digital transformation as a strong enabler to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals and enter into the digital economy. KOICA has been supporting the Digital Egypt Initiative through its support for the digital transformation of government services and digital skills and jobs.
What are KOICA’s plans for Egypt in 2023?
Under the employment and youth participation pillar of the country programme, KOICA is supporting the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in its efforts to reform and advance technological education at the university level in Egypt by supporting the establishment of the Beni Sweif Technological University, the leading technological university in Egypt.
KOICA also supported the establishment of the Faculty of ICT and Mechanical Engineering in 2019. Along with a strong focus on university-industrial cooperation, KOICA’s assistance with a budget of $8 million has included support for the Faculty of Automobile Engineering and the establishment of the Faculty of Railway Engineering, one of the most needed areas for advanced technological education currently in Egypt.
KOICA has also been involved with assisting automotive technical education at the secondary level in cooperation with the PVTD (Productive and Vocational Training Department) at the Ministry of Trade and Industry since the 1990s. The PVTD and KOICA have developed a project with a budget of $10 million that aims to upgrade technical training, especially by introducing a high-tech maintenance curriculum for the environmentally-friendly cars that are rapidly increasing in Egyptian metropolitan areas. The project is expected to launch in 2024.
Under the digital transition of government services pillar, KOICA actively utilises Korea’s advanced ICT technology and transfers experiences of e-governance systems in Korea to Egypt. The online one-stop service system for patent registration and approval has been completed and is now operating at full swing in cooperation with the Egyptian Patent Office. The system reduces the patent application process by 176 days, and in the inception year of 2022 it carried out 2,048 online patent applications.
KOICA is currently developing an extension project on integrated and comprehensive services for intellectual property management with a steering committee under the prime minister.
It has also been working with the General Authority of Government Services (GAGS) to introduce an e-procurement system for public procurement with a budget of $8 million. This one-stop system is designed to deal with the whole process of government procurement online from bidding to evaluation and from opening to contract payment. A key feature of the system is to secure the confidentiality of bidding documents until their opening, thus enhancing the transparency and credibility of the government’s procurement service.
Under the promotion of gender equality and social integration pillar, KOICA is dynamically cooperating with multilateral partners in implementation. Through joint efforts with Egypt’s National Council for Women, it has been working to eliminate gender-based violence and to economically empower women. It has been collaborating with UN partners such as the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Women in hospital response units, universities, and company board rooms in various governorates. Awareness-raising among community members and the private sector and the capacity building of girls and women as agents of change are key elements that make progress possible.
In Greater Cairo and on the North Coast, KOICA has been supporting and will extend its support this year to refugees and the host community jointly with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Plan International. Refugees and residents of local communities are expected to be strengthened in their livelihoods and skills and better able to secure essential social and medical services as a result.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 15 June, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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