Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) Chairman and President Yoon Hee-sung, right, poses with Statistics Korea Commissioner Han Hoon after signing an MOU to cooperate in ODA projects at the bank's headquarters in Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of Eximbank

By Yoon Ja-young

The Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), managed by the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank), signed an MOU with Statistics Korea to cooperate in international development projects and spread Korea's statistics system.

Eximbank Chairman and President Yoon Hee-sung signed an MOU with Statistics Korea Commissioner Han Hoon at the bank's headquarters in Seoul, Friday, to cooperate in international development cooperation projects, from launch to follow-up management.

The bank has been assigned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance to operate and manage the EDCF, which was launched in 1987 to assist the economic development of developing countries. The fund aims to support these countries in industrial development and economic stability as well as promoting economic exchanges with Korea by providing long-term, low-interest rate loans.

The MOU aims to increase the provision of concessional loans and grants as a package. While Eximbank has been executing Korea's concessional loans by operating and managing EDCF, on top of supporting Korean companies' advancements into markets overseas, Statistics Korea has been engaged in grant projects, establishing statistics systems in nine countries since 2012 and helping them nurture experts in statistics.

Based on the MOU, the two organizations will each back up projects initiated by the other. For instance, statistics office will be providing free statistical consulting services to recipient countries of the EDCF. They will enhance the effectiveness as well as sustainability of the ODA projects by linking each of the projects. Eximbank said in statement that there will be more international development cooperation projects in the statistics sector following the MOU.

"Thanks to multidirectional cooperation between EDCF and Statistics Korea, the advanced statistics system of Korea will widely expand to developing countries," Yoon said.

"With the cooperation with EDCF, we will be able to increase support for the advancement of statistics systems in developing countries. It will greatly help those countries to attain sustainable development goals," Han said.