USAID signs Power Africa Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of the Republic of Korea

Yesterday, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Mark Green and Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Strategy and Finance for the Republic of Korea (ROK) Kim Dong Yeon signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) toward pursuing energy goals in Sub-Saharan Africa.

USAID will implement the MOU through the Power Africa Coordinator’s Office. USAID Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator for Africa Cheryl L. Anderson and Coordinator for Power Africa Andrew M. Herscowitz also attended the signing ceremony.

Through this partnership, the United States and the ROK will collaborate on the following issues to accelerate progress under Power Africa:

• Advancing power-sector infrastructure through a $1 billion investment by the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), which includes a commitment to construct 1,000 kilometers of transmission line from 2018 to 2023;
• Conducting policy dialogues with African governments to develop the energy sector in a fair, transparent, and sustainable manner;
• Coordinating field efforts to support small-scale grids and off-grid solutions, and;
• Seeking mutual project collaboration opportunities for ROK and U.S. companies.

The ROK is the 17th development partner to formalize its relationship with Power Africa, further strengthening the broad coalition of public and private sector partners committed to helping accelerate progress towards the common goal of doubling access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Original source: USAID
Published on 22 May 2018