South Korea agreed with a United Nations body to share its experience in developing backwater rural areas in the 1970s with the international community, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

The ministry said it will sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United Nations Development Programme on Thursday in New York, according to the ministry.

Under the deal, dubbed the “New Village Movement Global Initiative,” South Korea will share the country’s past rural development policy and experience with the U.N. body, it said.

“The deal was signed upon the request from some developing countries and the international community that are hoping to share our experience in rural development,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Cho Tai-young said.

Under the village-unit based rural development policy, called the Saemaeul Movement, the government in the early 70’s distributed free cement to village units and mobilized villagers to modernize the rural areas, leading to massive agricultural productivity growth.

The development movement is one of former President Park Chung-hee’s signature growth policies that led to rapid economic expansion.

The ministry said it also plans to sign another MOU with the UNDP this week in order to raise cooperation on the issue of gender equality. (Yonhap News)