"The Republic of Korea is playing an increasingly important role in the humanitarian and development world, in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals," said Ms. Faremo, who is visiting the country's capital as part of a week-long trip in Asia, which included stops in Japan and Thailand.

UNOPS Director of Partnerships, Nikolaj Gilbert, accompanied Ms. Faremo and held meetings with KOICA country coordinators and procurement teams to discuss ongoing projects.

"KOICA hopes to expand its partnership with UNOPS in fragile and conflict-afflicted states and in countries where KOICA has limited presence, and also explore additional collaborative efforts to ensure development effectiveness and efficiency," said Mr. Chung.

In Africa, UNOPS is working with KOICA in the purchase of IT equipment for the Government of Ethiopia and in Ghana UNOPS is building a midwifery training centre with funding from the Agency.

KOICA and UNOPS began working together in 2010 in eastern Sri Lanka. This project saw the renovation of 11 primary and secondary school facilities in Ampara and Batticaloa, and following this, the construction of 110 classrooms in Kilinochchi in the north of the country. Both projects were handed over in 2014. Since then the two organizations have also worked together in Haiti, Kenya and the State of Palestine.

"We are uniquely placed to assist KOICA to achieve its goals in fragile states, through our long-standing experience in implementing high-quality, resilient projects in the world's most challenging environments," said Ms. Faremo from KOICA's headquarters.