Driven by technological know-how and shared values, Washington is pushing to step up cooperation with Seoul to help combat poverty in underdeveloped countries in such fields as girls’ empowerment and science and technology, a senior US aid official said Wednesday.

John Seong, who is in charge of policy coordination with Seoul and Tokyo for the US Agency for International Development as a counselor at the US Embassy in Japan, underscored the need to craft fresh ways to mobilize finances and build capacity in the developing world to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. SDGs are a new global development agenda for the next 15 years.

With Korea and the US each carrying out similar aid programs, the two countries could create synergy by working together with a focus on such areas as girls’ empowerment, science and technology innovation, leveraging the private sector, and health, he said. 

“I think we can’t just do business as usual all the time as we have done in the past many years. ... The aim is very high -- it’s about zero hunger, zero malnutrition, and zero under-5 deaths. It’s like absolute terms that the SDGs are pursuing,” he said in an interview with The Korea Herald.

“Especially Korea, from what I’ve gathered, is very eager to apply new things, experiment different things, just like the use of science and technology innovation. That’s probably one of more effective ways to accomplish the SDGs, and that is also the right track of it.”

Seong, who served in countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Nairobi and East Timor for the aid agency over the past 25 years before taking up the latest duty, was attending the Seoul ODA International Conference hosted in Seoul by the Foreign Ministry and Korea International Cooperation Agency.

During the event, Seong introduced the US’ assistance programs, review of the previous Millennium Development Goals and plans to implement the SDGs. He also confer potential partnerships with KOICA officials, based on which he will likely visit Seoul in October for a formal consultation.

Another promising field could be girls’ welfare, empowerment and education, he noted, as Seoul and Washington have introduced related initiatives, known respectively as “Better Life for Girls” and “Let Girls Learn.”
“When I look at the objectives of both programs, there are quite a few overlapping areas. We would like to see opportunities to work together in some of the countries of mutual interest,” Seong said.

Given the growing significance of non-government financing, the two countries can also explore how to leverage the private sector for development objectives, while cashing in on their expertise in health care services, he added.

“Now you’ve got to find the way that commercial interests match ODA objectives, we can do that through discussions and studies,” Seong said.

“There are more because the health area is also big at KOICA, and the US has been a leader in global health, so there should be ample opportunities. Those are the four areas that I’d like to us to be able to seriously look at, where, what and how.”

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)