Japan, the United States and South Korea agree to cooperate on official development assistance by providing $29 million to the Philippines over five years

Official Development Assistance (ODA) agencies from Japan, the United States, and South Korea will be carrying out a three-way joint individual cooperation project in the Philippines. Japan, the United States, and South Korea will cooperate from the planning stage on ODA projects targeting the same region.
On the 27th, KOICA (Korea International Cooperation Agency) held a joint event with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at the Manila International Convention Center in the Philippines.
A) signed an agreement on regional health cooperation in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) of the Philippines.
The guests included Ambassador San Sang Man of the Republic of Korea to the Philippines, KOICA Director General Kim Eun Sop, U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Mary Kei Carlson, and USAID Director Ryan Washburn.
Among those in attendance were: Japanese Ambassador Kazuya Endo, JICA Representative Director Takeo Sakamoto, Health Secretary Kadir Bangsamoro, and the Philippine Health Secretary.
The agreement is the third step in the development cooperation agreement that the three countries agreed to in August last year through the Camp David Principles.
The project will run for about five years from 2024 to 2030 (varies by institution), and a total of $29 million in support will be provided. South Korea and the United States will each provide $13 million, while Japan will receive $10 million.
The project will invest $3 million. The Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, where the health project is being carried out, is a region that has been the scene of a long civil war. In 2014, it signed a comprehensive peace agreement and in 2019,
However, the region remains one of the most vulnerable in the country in terms of health indicators, including armed conflict, lack of infrastructure, poverty and climate disasters.
The three countries' agencies will work together to achieve universal health coverage through strengthening the health care system, improving health care services, changing behaviors and perceptions, and increasing the efficiency of development cooperation.
KOICA will support the improvement of health insurance claims and reimbursement systems to ensure sustainable public health financing, while USAID will support the implementation of health governance and medical treatment reforms.
The project will focus on the food procurement system. JICA plans to provide support mainly for nutrition improvement projects for women and infants.