Korea Eximbank Holds 'Foreign Economic Cooperation and Development Cooperation' Conference with Development Policy Association

Online Live Broadcast... Bang Moon-kyu, CEO of KEXIM, and Related Academic Figures Participate
KEXIM Provides Over 500 Billion KRW in EDCF Support to Help Developing Countries Overcome COVID Crisis

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] The Export-Import Bank of Korea announced on the 4th that it held the 'Foreign Economic Cooperation and Development Cooperation in the Era of Global Transition' conference online in collaboration with the Korea Development Policy Association at Seoul National University.

The event on the previous day was attended by Bank President Bang Bong-gyu, Chairman Park Bok-young of the New Southern Special Committee, Director Park Il-young of the Development Finance Bureau at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and Jung Hyuk, President of the Korea Development Policy Association (Professor at Seoul National University), among others. In accordance with the government's social distancing guidelines, only a minimal number of people attended the conference on-site, and it was conducted via live online streaming.

In his video congratulatory speech, President Bang said, "Due to the shutdowns caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) worldwide, delays in infrastructure projects supported by the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) in developing countries are inevitable." He added, "The government and the Bank have shifted to a COVID-19 crisis response support system and planned emergency loan support of 450 billion KRW, but due to many requests from developing country governments, support is expected to exceed 500 billion KRW by the end of the year." President Bang further stated, "In the post-COVID era, we must strengthen global cooperation and solidarity to help developing countries overcome health and economic crises and respond to the accelerating transition to a digital and green economy."

The conference, conducted through three sessions and a panel discussion, was organized to explore strategies for foreign economic cooperation from the perspective of the New Southern Policy, development cooperation in the digital transition era, and health development cooperation measures in the post-COVID era amid the rapidly changing global environment after COVID-19.

In the first session, Professor Ahn Jae-bin of Seoul National University presented strategies to enhance the effectiveness of development cooperation focusing on overseas direct investment from New Southern countries, emphasizing the importance of private investment due to the shortage of ODA resources for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In the second session, Professor Park Kyung-ryeol of KAIST explained an integrated development cooperation approach considering the stages of digital transition amid the expected increase in demand in the Fourth Industrial Revolution sectors after COVID-19. In the third session, Professor Kwon Soon-man of Seoul National University proposed measures to expand health sector support and strengthen paid and unpaid cooperation for the global spread of K-quarantine in the post-COVID era.

The final panel discussion was a comprehensive debate where panelists engaged in a lively discussion for about an hour via online video on the future direction of Korea's development cooperation after COVID-19. Participants included Director Park Il-young, Vice President Kim Hong-gi of Hannam University, Director Ahn Sang-hoon of the KDI International Development Cooperation Center, Director Kwon Yul of the KIEP International Development Cooperation Center, Director So Hoon-seop of the World Bank Korea Office, and General Manager Kim Tae-su of the Bank's Economic Cooperation Headquarters.