KATHMANDU, AUGUST 30

Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in coordination with Nepal Police organized the groundbreaking ceremony of the Cyber Bureau building being supported by the Korean government on 30 August 2023. The Korean Ambassador to Nepal Tae-Young Park and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Basanta Bahadur Kunwar jointly conducted the groundbreaking ceremony at Samakhushi.

The state of art Nepal Police Cyber Bureau building is being constructed under the project 'Establishment of Cyber Bureau with Capacity Building for Nepal Police'. Along with the building, KOICA shall provide equipment related to cyber-crime investigation and digital forensic lab and capacity building of relevant human resources of Nepal Police that shall strengthen the anti-cyber-crime capabilities of Nepal Police. The total project budget is USD 8 million and the project shall be completed by 2026. The Cyber Bureau building will be completed by February 2025.

Similarly, on the other event KOICA and the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA) signed the Record of Discussion (RoD) for the project 'Green Job Creation through Recycling and Upcycling Project in Pokhara Metropolitan City' on August 30 2023 at MoFAGA. The RoD was signed by Mooheon Kong, Country Director of KOICA Nepal Office, and Kamal Prasad Bhattarai, Joint Secretary of the MoFAGA in the presence of Binod Prakash Singh, Secretary, MoFAGA. The Korean Government through KOICA has allocated USD 9.8 Million for this project. The main goal of this project is to promote sustainable recycling and upcycling enterprises contributing to the green economy. The project shall Establish a Green Venture Zone (GVZ) at the heart of Pokhara and provide business incubation support (financial, technological, and market linkage) to new and existing RU enterprises.

The project aims to establish more than 30 Recycle Upcycle (RU) enterprises and create thousands of green jobs in Pokhara. The project activities will lead to massive behavioral change at the community level, where people will adopt waste segregation at the household level. This will reduce the burden of Pokhara's waste dumping site. Most importantly, KOICA shall establish GVZ, which is one of the state-of-the-art centers for understanding recycling, upcycle, innovation, and startups. The GVZ will also have outlets for final products made out of recycled and upcycled materials and exhibition halls to host national and international events related to the environmental sector.

Korean government's aid through KOICA has been increasing continuously in Nepal for the last many years as Nepal is one of the priority countries for KOICA. Over the years not only KOICA's aid budget has been increasing in Nepal but also the sectors have expanded. In recent years, KOICA has focused on the rural development/agriculture sector and the environmental sector. KOICA has identified various projects in various parts of Nepal to support the regional development of Nepal. In the last two decades, KOICA has successfully implemented various projects in the health, technical education, e-governance, and rural development sectors in Nepal.