The Korea International Cooperation Agency kicked off its sixth exhibition at the Global Village in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on Wednesday featuring the culture and history of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.

The joint exhibition between KOICA and the embassies of the three nations located in the region of Northwest Africa, known as the Maghreb, held the biggest opening ceremony since the first exhibit in Mongolia in 2010.

“This exhibition is a display of the three countries of the Maghreb region in which KOICA has operations, and the most important part of his exhibition is to show how KOICA and these three countries share relations,” said Lee Young-ju, senior program manager at KOICA.

Dignitaries including Moroccan Ambassador Mohammed Chraibi, Algerian Ambassador Hocine Saharaoui and Tunisian Ambassador Ammar Amari.

“This is an occasion to make these cultures and histories of other countries better known to the Korean public,” said Chraibi.

“We (the Maghreb) have many features in common and many traditions in common like food and cuisine, clothing, languages and religion.”

The Moroccan ambassador also added that this was the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between his country and Korea, giving an even deeper meaning to the event.

“It has been 50 years of friendship and genuine cooperation,” he said, as Morocco was the first of the three to establish diplomatic relations with Korea.

Saharaoui also applauded the event, saying that the exhibition is a symbol of shared cultural relations on top of trade and political bilateral relations.

The opening ceremony included a fashion show featuring articles of clothing from the Maghreb and what KOICA volunteers wear.

The Maghreb refers to five northwest African nations, with Mauritania and Libya the other two. However, KOICA only has a presence in the three countries featured in the exhibit.

The exhibit features multiple cultural aspects including clothing, cuisine and decorations.

“The exhibition is not just about displaying history and culture but it is about experiencing them, where you can even cook and eat the traditional cuisines of the countries,” said Lee.

Recipes for the fluffiest couscous in all of Korea were brought to the exhibit by the ambassadors’ spouses. Other traditional fare included makroud, a Tunisian pastry with a date filling, and tajine, a Moroccan dish of braised meat and vegetables named after the pot it is cooked in.

The traditional clothing, decorations and cultural artifacts were contributed by the embassies, according to KOICA officials.

“I feel that Maghreb and Korea are too far (apart) so this is an opportunity to share culture and history,” said Chiraz Khaterchi, a 40-year-old Tunisian exchange student studying at Ewha Womans University.

Previous exhibitions featured cultural and historical items from Mongolia, Africa, Central America, Cambodia and Vietnam.

KOICA has given roughly $13 million in official development assistance to Algeria over the past 20 years, including a recent shrimp-farming project in the middle of the Sahara Desert, supplied by the salty brackish water pumped from underneath the desert floor.

In Morocco, KOICA has invested $18.6 million in ODA throughout the same period, recently focusing on the country’s human resources. In 2008 KOICA established the Morocco-Korean Center for Information and Communications Technology for Education.

KOICA also has a presence in Tunisia, especially after the Arab Spring movement, sharing Korea’s political experience in democracy to promote a fair and transparent government.

By Robert Lee (robert@heraldcorp.com)