MANILA - South Korea has offered a $1 billion official development assistance fund to the Philippines to help boost the Southeast Asian nation’s infrastructure program, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

Dominguez said projects have already been identified for nearly half of the ODA funds.

The projects to be funded by the $1 billion ODA include the $172.64 million for the new Cebu International Container Port project, $100 million for the new Dumaguete Airport, $50 million for the project preparation facility of the National Irrigation Administration, and $41 million for the implementation of electronic receipt, invoices and sales reporting system that will help the government monitor all taxes paid by the retailers.

Projects for the remaining $636.36 million in ODA funds will be identified later, Dominguez said.

He said South Korea imposed a 0.15 percent interest on the loan for the Cebu port project, payable in 40 years.

Dominguez said he assured Korean officials of “our strict monitoring of projects to make sure none of the Korea taxpayers’ money is wasted in corruption and that all ODA-supported projects will bring lasting benefits to the Filipino people.”

The $1 billion ODA for 2017-2022 is double than what South Korea offered to the Philippines for the years 2011-2013, Dominguez said.

He said the doubling of the amount can be attributed to South Korea’s “New Southern Policy” which aims to deepen ties between Seoul and Southeast Asian countries.

The Korean government already gave the Philippine National Police a $6.6 million aid, and it is willing to pour more funds for the rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi City.

Meanwhile, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the Philippine government has also sought stronger trade ties with South Korea, as Manila requested for the lowering of tariffs for Philippine agricultural projects entering the Korean market.

He said Korea imposes a 25-30 percent tariff on agricultural products such as pineapple, banana, mango, and coconut.

“Our request is to bring it down to the vicinity of 5 percent,” Lopez said. “We lowered our tariffs. We are basically asking for reciprocity.”

Lopez said Philippine and Korean businesses are also expected Tuesday afternoon to strike business deals and pledges worth $4.8 billion which could generate 50,000 new jobs.

The business-to-business deals, Lopez said, involve small and medium enterprises such as a kimchi-making company and large firms such as Korean car-maker Hyundai.

Lopez said in Hyundai is looking at establishing a production facility for passenger and commercial vehicles in the Philippines.