MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) is planning to secure funding from the Export-Import Bank of Korea to put up a traceability system project for the livestock industry.
The DA is finalizing Livestock Inspection Safety and Enhancement Project Phase I (LISEP I), which is proposed under the KEXIM’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (KEXIM-EDCF).
The agency issued special order 226, signed by Agriculture Senior Undersecretary Domingo Panganiban on Feb. 27, which formed a project management group to finalize “the project proposal towards the loan agreement.”
The project management group will be led by the steering committee, which will provide the overall direction, guidance, support and oversight on the project.
Meanwhile, the technical committee will primarily review, prepare and finalize the project. This includes the feasibility study of the project.
The LISEP I project is among the DA’s ongoing projects on traceability and grading systems related to the capacity building assistance offered by the Korean Institute for Animal Products Quality Evaluation (KAPE) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (MAFRA).
In November last year, officials of KAPE were in the country as part of further enhancing partnership and cooperation between the Philippines and the Korean government.
The Philippines signed an agreement with the Republic of Korea last December, allowing Manila to tap up to $3 billion in official development assistance (ODA) from EDCF until 2026 to finance local infrastructure projects.
The renewed agreement will be funded by the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the South Korean government.
The deal is worth three times more than the $1-billion 2017 to 2022 term agreement.