November 29, 2024

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Park Young-kyu (second from left, first row), Korean ambassador to Fiji, and Fiji government officials attend a workshop hosted by the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives. (KFCC)

The Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives is expanding international cooperation to help alleviate poverty in developing countries by sharing Koreans’ experience of doing so through savings.

Under the guidance of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, community credit cooperatives, known as Saemaul Geumgo, were set up in Myanmar in 2017, Uganda in 2018 and Laos in 2020. Currently, 53 branches in those countries have some 13,000 members.

Recently, separate federations of community credit cooperatives were set up in Myanmar and Uganda with their own systems to oversee branches in their respective countries.

The KFCC is now taking steps to expand its model of community credit cooperatives to Fiji and Cambodia as well as in Central and South America.

Early this month, the KFCC held a workshop with the Fiji government in its capital Suva to discuss its official development assistance plans on the South Pacific island.

“The Saemaul Geumgo platform is gaining much traction as a way to reduce poverty in developing nations,” KFCC Chairperson Park Cha-hoon said.

“We will continue to work proactively to make Saemaul Geumgo a financial brand for embracing community.”

(sophie@heraldcorp.com)