South Korea has been chosen as the next chair of an international body tasked with assessing development aid by multilateral organizations, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

South Korea will succeed the United States as chair of the Multilateral Organization Performance Assessment Network, a 17-member body established in 2002 to assess the effectiveness and accountability of multilateral organizations offering development and humanitarian assistance, the ministry said in a press release.

As the chair in 2016, South Korea will be responsible for presiding over meetings of the MOPAN's steering committee and play a leading role in its policy decisions.

The decision came during a steering committee meeting in Paris on Oct. 8-9.

"By accepting the chairmanship in the year of the launch of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we expect to raise South Korea's profile in the international community as a model donor nation and expand our government's influence on multilateral development bodies," the ministry said.

Other members of MOPAN include Britain, France and Japan, which together account for more than 95 percent of multilateral development aid. (Yonhap)