The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MoHW) in Korea, the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH) and the Sri Lankan government recently held an opening ceremony for KOFIH’s Sri Lanka office. The office is located in the building of the Ministry of Health of Sri Lanka in Colombo.

The opening ceremony was attended by Secretary of Health Janaka Sri Chadraguptha, Director of the MoHW’s Division of Trade and Development Affairs Cho Kwi-hun, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Sri Lanka Lee Miyon, and the head of the KOFIH Sri Lanka Office, among other key figures.

As one of Korea’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) Core Partner countries, Sri Lanka is considered as a cooperative partner of Korea’s Indo-Pacific strategy. The MoHW and KOFIH have been cooperating with the Sri Lankan government on ODA projects in healthcare since 2019.

As KOFIH’s 10th overseas country office to be opened, the Sri Lanka Office will also serve as a key role for the development and implementation of joint Korea-Sri Lanka projects and healthcare cooperation projects with countries in the Indo-South Asian region.

KOFIH’s overseas offices are located in 6 countries in Asia (Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka), and 4 countries in Africa (Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia)

At the meeting held ahead of the opening ceremony, the Director of the MoHW’s Division of Trade and Development Affairs Cho Kwi-hun and Secretary of Health Janaka Sri Chandraguptha discussed ways to expand ODA cooperation in the healthcare field between Korea and Sri Lanka.

Both parties agreed that the ODA projects in the healthcare sector, which both nations worked together have contributed significantly to the development of Sri Lanka’s healthcare system, and that the opening of the Sri Lanka office will prove to be a catalyst for sharing Korea’s experiences in the development of its healthcare system.