ABUJA – South Korea is prepared to share “its experience” with Nigeria to enable it to achieve its vision of belonging to the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020.
Jung Hoon Sang, the Chief Representative of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in Nigeria, made the statement at a forum, organised by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
Jung explained that Korea had a unique experience of developing from one of the poorest countries in the world to one of the most economically advanced within a short period.
He said Korea was able to achieve its current development feat through many factors, including leadership, human resource development, policy consistency and rural development.
“I can see strong potential in Nigeria and I envy Nigeria because you have many things. Even many Koreans do not speak English as much as Nigerians do.
“You have big talent and capacity. If you have some confidence, I am sure the transformation agenda to become the 20th largest economy by year 2020 can be achieved.
“You can achieve the target as long as you have some determination. But what is most important in achieving it is confidence about your future and leadership qualities,” he said.
Jung said Korea had worse experience in terms of development challenges and expressed optimism that Nigeria would surmount its current development challenges in no distant time.
“In the 1970s, Korea had a Gross Domestic Product per capita of about 80 million dollars. [eap_ad_1] “Today, in a matter of a few decades, we are members of the “Rich Country Club” known as Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Development Assistance Committee (OECD/DAC).
“The `know-how’ and experience gained from this transition are invaluable assets that allow KOICA to efficiently support the sustainable socio-economic development of its partner countries and to offer them hope for a better world.
“Korea seeks to share its unique experience with developing countries like Nigeria,” he said.
The KOICA chief explained that the mission of Korea was to realise sustainable socio-economic development and enhancement of the quality of life in Nigeria.
He said the agency was pursuing the goal through collaboration with the Nigerian Government to provide development aid to Nigerians.
“Korea’s Country Partnership Strategy for Nigeria is in consideration of Nigeria development needs and priority as well as comparative advantage and resource management capacity.
“Therefore, we work in close collaboration with the National Planning Commission and other Nigerian counterparts to achieve national development goals.
“KOICA is here to help the Nigerian Government to achieve Nigeria Vision 20:2020,” he said.
Jung said that the secret of Korea’s rapid development was human resource development, which was a key component of KOICA’s aid intervention in Nigeria.
“In Nigeria, KOICA supports Nigeria’s human resource development by sponsoring public officials for short term programmes as well as masters programmes in Korea.
“KOICA has sponsored over 1,000 public officials on various courses to Korea to boost human resource development in Nigeria,” Jung said. (NAN)[eap_ad_4]
