Hebron Mayor Khaled Osaily met on the 15th of August at Hebron Municipality with Mr. Dong-ho Kim, Middle East and Latin America Officer at the Korean Agency for Cooperation (KOICA) who was accompanied by Mr. San Bak Li, KOICA Country Representative in Palestine. The meeting discussed means to enhance cooperation, examined the needs of Hebron in terms of projects as well as the priorities of its residents and institutions. It was also attended by Mr. Kamal Al Dweik and Mr. Isaac Al Natsheh, members of Hebron’s Municipal Council as well as by Mr. Allam Al Ashhab and Mr. Mahmoud Abou Sbeih from the Municipality’s staff.
At the beginning of the meeting, Osaily spoke about joint projects, mainly the Korean-Palestinian Center built at a cost of 6.5 million USD and funded by the Korean Government through KOICA. The Center includes an integrated school as well as a Youth Activity Center which is the first of its kind in Palestine. Osaily thanked the Korean Government and people for their support of Palestinians in general and Hebron in particular. He lauded the efforts made by all those in charge of development, educational, youth and health projects in Palestinian Governorates. “We are now working to inaugurate the first Observatory in Palestine which shall be hosted at the Korean-Palestinian Center thanks to financial support from KOICA. I hope that President Abbas will be able to attend its inauguration ceremony. Indeed, Hebron Municipality is keen on enhancing technological developments at its various sections, with a special focus on youths who constitute the majority of the Palestinian people. We hope to further our cooperation in fields related to youths, education and cultural exchanges”, he said.
Mr. Dong-ho Kim said he was delighted and satisfied with this visit to Hebron Municipality and that he looked forward to further fruitful cooperation between the two bodies. “KOICA is keen on executing several projects in Hebron and Jenin Governorates in the fields of health, youths and education. A Biological Technology project shall be implemented in Hebron in cooperation with the Polytechnic University. It shall help enhance scientific research and technological developments at the University”, he added.
Both parties then exchanged gifts before touring the Municipality and the Korean-Palestinian Center.