South Korea has committed to supporting community development as a way of contributing to the achievement of Rwanda’s Vision 2020.The commitment was disclosed on Wednesday during a meeting between the newly-appointed South Korean ambassador to Rwanda, Hwang Soon Taik, and the Minister of Local Government, James Musoni.The ministry is responsible for twinning and partnerships.Both officials agreed on areas of special focus for the partnership between the Republic of South Korea and the Ministry of Local Government, in areas of education with focus on technical, vocational education and training, information and communications technologies as well as agriculture.Emphasis will be put on rural development projects such as urbanisation and rural settlement, promotion of model villages, integrated cooperation in capacity building through partnerships between the Local Government Institute and the Korea Development Institute, among others.At local government level, cooperation with Rwanda are extended to Kamonyi and Nyamagabe districts in One Village Movement – Saemaul Undong programmes and support to Local Economic Development projects in Nyaruguru district, capacity building initiatives targeting rural development as well as technical assistance to the Ministry and districts.South Korea delivers its support to Rwanda through the Korea International Development Agency (KOICA). It dispatches volunteers in different fields of agriculture, education and ICT.It also provided support to the establishment of the Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre in Kicukiro as well as the establishment of the ICT Laboratory at the National University of Rwanda, and provides short and long term training to Rwandans working with the public sector in different fields.Contrary to his predecessors, who used to reside in Dar-es-Salaam, Ambassador Soon-Taik will reside in Kigali.
