History / Background Development cooperation is the provision of a donor country's resources to recipient countries for the promotion of economic development and the welfare of the general population. Government level cooperation is called Official Development Assistance (ODA). Due to the increasing requests for development assistance coming from the international community since the mid-1980s, the Korean government began deliberating on the establishment of an effective and efficient system to manage Korea's aid programs. On January 1, 1987, the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) was established. EDCF extends soft loans for industrial development projects to developing countries. The fund, one of the two major bilateral ODA facilities apart from the other bilateral facility for grant and technical cooperation, is handled by the Export-import Bank of Korea under the direction of the Ministry of Finance and Economy. By 1990, various other international cooperation programs were being carried out by a number of government departments. The relevant ministries of the government, aware of the need for the establishment of a single, centralized organization to implement and monitor Korea's international assistance programs, began full discussion to launch a unified agency. In January 1991, the Korea International Cooperation Agency Act was promulgated. Based on this law, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) was founded on April 1, 1991, under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT). KOICA is in charge of grant aid and technical cooperation.