ASEAN, South Korea OK 3 RP projects for funding support

MANILA, Philippines – The ASEAN-Republic of Korea Joint Planning and Review Committee (JPRC) has approved and funded projects proposed by the Philippines at the 10th ASEAN-ROK meeting recently in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said yesterday.

The DFA said the projects, aimed at improving capacity-building in core areas and various levels of implementation, are the ASEAN-ROK Cooperation on Industrial Use of Marine Biological Resources; Assessment of the State of the Art of Marine Bio-Technology in the ASEAN Region; the Planning Workshop to Develop an ASEAN Consortium of Schools of Social Work and Practices; and the ASEAN Independent Cinema Project.

The University of the Philippines, Department of Social Welfare and Development, and Philippine Information Agency will implement the projects.

The ASEAN-ROK JPRC is an annual meeting between the ASEAN Country Coordinator and the ROK to discuss cooperation in social and cultural issues.

The meeting was co-chaired by Deputy Director-General Chuah Teong of ASEAN-Malaysia and Senior Coordinator Cha Young-cheol of the South Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the ROK. The Philippines was represented by DFA Director Lolita Capco of the Office of ASEAN Affairs.

South Korea funds projects under the ASEAN-ROK development cooperation which has expanded to cover trade, investment, transport, tourism, agriculture, science and technology, ICT, environment, health, human resource development, culture, and people-to-people exchange. – Pia Lee-Brago