Korea and Timor-Leste promote 'basic agreement on grant aid'... Expanding the scope of ODA cooperation

As the Republic of Korea and East Timor formalized the promotion of the 'Basic Agreement on Free Aid' at the summit on the 6th, official development assistance (ODA) cooperation between the two countries, which has been focused on small-scale individual projects, is expected to take a leap forward.

On the 9th, the international development cooperation community expects that the basic grant aid agreement, which is expected to be concluded next year to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the 25th anniversary of East Timor's independence, will serve as an opportunity to lay the foundation for stable and systematic development cooperation between the two countries.

The Basic Agreement on Grant Aid, which is in the nature of an intergovernmental treaty, is an essential institutional device in the process of carrying out grant development cooperation projects between countries.

Once the agreement is concluded, the stability of stay of business personnel dispatched to the local area, the legal status of the local office of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), a dedicated implementation agency for free aid, and administrative privileges such as customs clearance and tax exemption are guaranteed.

This means that core infrastructure will be established to overcome the limitations of cooperation that has been centered on individual agreements and to increase the predictability and transparency of the business.

East Timor is a place where the Evergreen Unit, which was dispatched to the UN Peacekeeping Force (PKO) in 1999 for peace and reconstruction, worked for about four years and formed a deep relationship with Korea.

KOICA has been laying the foundation for development cooperation by starting grant aid projects in 2001, around the time East Timor began to lay its foundation for a country. An office was opened in the capital, Dili, in September 2010, and is currently run by a three-person team, including a director and deputy director.

The density of cooperation between the two countries is also expressed in numbers. As of 2024, of the Korean government's entire ODA budget in Asia (KRW 335.3 billion), the budget allocated to East Timor is approximately KRW 18.6 billion.

This ranks 8th (5.8%) among the 18 countries eligible for KOICA's grant aid in Asia. Considering that the 1st to 7th ranked ODA priority partner countries, East Timor is recording the largest amount of support in Asia among non-priority partner countries.

The development cooperation community is paying attention to whether East Timor will be upgraded to a priority cooperation country or join the ranks of full-fledged cooperation equivalent to this in the future with the promotion of this basic agreement. If a country is designated as a priority cooperation country, more than 70% of the total ODA budget will be invested intensively.

This cooperative trend is closely related to the government's diplomatic strategy toward ASEAN, the trend of strengthening the 'Korea-ASEAN Comprehensive Strategic Partnership' (CSP), and the four core programs (technology/digital, health, climate/energy, and regional development) of the '4th Comprehensive Framework for International Development Cooperation' (2026-2030).

KOICA is carrying out the 'East Timor Forest Restoration and Sustainable Forest Management Capacity Building Project' (2026-2033/USD 6 million) as a climate and energy response program in the country cooperation project. This year, 850 million won was invested, and an additional 550 million won is planned to be invested next year.

Multilateral cooperation projects through international organizations are also actively taking place.

Representative projects include supporting youth employment and entrepreneurship with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), strengthening infectious disease prevention and response capabilities with the World Health Organization (WHO), strengthening school meal capacity using local agricultural products with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), and infant and toddler education with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

In addition, practical security cooperation is being carried out in parallel, such as providing investigative equipment to strengthen the investigative capacity of the East Timor Forensic Investigation Headquarters to respond to transnational crimes and stabilize public order.

In addition, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as World Vision and the Global Village Sharing Movement have been conducting local health and nutrition improvement projects and activities to support local residents' self-reliance for a long time, laying the foundation for trust between the two countries in the private sector.

Development cooperation civic groups have complained of difficulties such as delays in customs clearance of project equipment, imposition of local taxes, and visa problems for dispatched personnel due to the lack of a basic agreement. There are also expectations that the speed and efficiency of NGOs' project execution will improve when the basic agreement is concluded.

This basic grant aid agreement, which is being promoted by East Timor, the 11th full member of ASEAN, and Korea to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, is expected to be a solid institutional milestone that completes the cooperation between the two countries, which began from the relationship of maintaining peace in the past, into a future-oriented, win-win relationship.