Philippines keen on deepening ties with South Korea

The Philippines plans to increase its level of cooperation with South Korea in the future, said finance secretary Carlos Dominguez at a meeting with the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). This comes after South Korea looks into increasing its assistance to countries within the Southeast Asian region. Dominguez told the KOICA delegation, led by president Lee Mikyung, that the Philippines appreciates the assistance it receives from the Korean people and that it wants closer cooperation with them in the coming years. Lee said the volume of support from South Korea is likely to increase, with Seoul keen on tripling its aid to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by 2022. Lee said Seoul has rolled out many initiatives covering education, information and communications technology, gender equality, and inclusive development, which the Philippines can use to help reach its goal of economic inclusion for all its citizens. Among the initiatives are the ASEAN Higher Education Initiative, a college exchange program between South Korean and Philippine students, and South Korea’s highly developed ICT programs to help the Philippines boost transparency in governance and reform its tax system. 

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