SKorea to provide Nepal $11.8m in grants for fruit and vegetable value chains, legal information services
KATHMANDU: The Republic of Korea and Nepal have signed two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) totalling $11.8m in grant assistance to support agricultural value chains and improve legal information services.
The MoUs were signed by Taeyoung Park, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Nepal, and Ghanshyam Upadhyaya, Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the Embassy of Korea said in a press release. The projects will be implemented through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) with relevant partner institutions.
The larger initiative, the Value Chain Development for Fruits and Vegetables Project, Phase II in Nepal, allocates $10m in grant assistance for 2025-31. The project aims to support agricultural value chain development and raise the incomes of smallholder farmers across six districts of Lumbini Province: Banke, Dang, Kapilvastu, Rupandehi, Palpa and Gulmi. KOICA will implement the project in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Environment, the provincial ministry and the Directorate of Agriculture Development. Phase II seeks to improve support systems, introduce market-demand-based production strategies and disseminate field-applicable post-harvest technologies.
The Project for Establishing Nepal Law Information Pilot System provides $1.8m in grant assistance to build a centralised, user-friendly digital platform for managing and accessing Nepal’s legislative records. The project is being executed with the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, the Ministry of Government Legislation of the Republic of Korea and the Korea Law Information Service, and will support business process improvements, database development, essential IT infrastructure and capacity building for sustainable operation by Nepali authorities.
At the signing ceremony, Finance Secretary Upadhyaya welcomed Korea’s development assistance, saying Korea’s cooperation has consistently supported Nepal’s national development initiatives.
Ambassador Park said both projects represent a comprehensive transfer of Korean expertise and that KOICA will dispatch qualified Korean experts to work alongside Nepali counterparts. He added that the projects reflect the enduring partnership between Korea and Nepal and their shared commitment to Nepal’s sustainable development.
KOICA Country Director Mooheon Kong said the second phase of the fruit and vegetable project will build on the existing partnership in Lumbini Province to contribute to sustainable income growth for smallholder farmers, and that the Nepal Law Information Pilot System will improve public access to legal information and strengthen the institutional foundation for digital legal services.
Since 1991 the Government of the Republic of Korea, through KOICA, has provided approximately $235m in assistance to Nepal, supporting sectors including health, education, agriculture, vocational training, rural development and digital transformation.
By RSS
