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| World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and South Korea's Minister of Strategy and Finance Jaewan Bahk at signing ceremony announcing a new World Bank Group office in Korea and a $90 million joint World Bank-Korea financial facility to support developing countries |
In a further sign of strengthening ties between the World
Bank Group and Korea, they also announced the launch of a new $90 million fund
to support developing countries, the Korea-World Bank Partnership Facility. The
Facility will support a broad range of economic development opportunities with
a focus on promoting best practices, by leveraging the Bank’s knowledge and
convening power and Korea’s expertise in areas such as economic development
policy, information communications technology, infrastructure and the financial
sector.
“At a time of global uncertainty, there’s an even greater
sense of urgency to help developing countries tackle their challenges to reduce
poverty and create greater prosperity for their people,” Kim said. “South
Korea's experience in sustainable development, providing efficient
infrastructure and services to improve the lives of its people, combined with
its transition to a dynamic knowledge economy, provides lessons that can
benefit many other developing countries,”
Kim said the new office would help share Korea’s development
successes, as well as its expertise in managing the 1997 Asian financial crisis
and the recent 2008 global financial crisis, providing lessons for other
emerging economies as they work to mitigate the impacts of the Eurozone crisis.
South Korea is an exceptional example of an aid recipient
turned donor, with GNI per capita increasing rapidly from US$ 67 in the early
1950s to over US$ 20,000 in 50 years. Now an OECD-DAC country, Korea is a
valued member of the international donor community and key development partner
of the WBG, as well as a strong contributor of IDA.
“This is a critical moment. These agreements reflect Korea’s
growing stature on the international stage and are a testament to our
remarkable partnership with the World Bank,” Minister Bahk said. “Korea is one
of the few development aid recipient countries that successfully transformed to
a major donor and the world's 13th largest economy. And therefore it understands the difficulties
that developing countries are facing today. Korea stands ready to share the
knowledge and know-how gained over the course of its development.”
The new Korea-World Bank Partnership Facility will provide
$90 million over three years to finance global and regional projects to support
economic development and co-financing investments at the country level. The
emphasis will be on generating and transferring development best practices,
with low and lower middle income countries eligible for funding under the new
facility. The WBG Office will also be financed by this facility.
Currently, the World Bank Group has a series of partnerships
and joint projects with Korean partners designed to enhance financial sector
management, promote investment in green infrastructure and renewable energy,
share know-how in information communications technology and knowledge sharing,
as well as assist fragile and conflict-affected states.
The new World Bank Group office will include IFC
(International Finance Corporation) – the largest global development
institution focused exclusively on the private sector—and the Multilateral
Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) –the Bank Group’s agency which provides
political risk insurance to promote foreign direct investment into developing
countries.
IFC will draw on Korea’s strong private sector experience to
support the scale-up of critical projects in the infrastructure, manufacturing
and services, and financial sectors by partnering with Korea-based firms to
invest in emerging markets around the world.
MIGA is deepening its ties with the Korean private sector to
promote Korean investments in developing countries and looks forward to working
more closely with the government as well as public and private sector entities
to share knowledge and experience. The agency’s scaled-up presence will assist
Asian investors to facilitate their plans for inbound and outbound investments.