Korea to Participate in IDB Funding Expansion... Providing $150 Million Support

Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok Meets with IDB President Ilang Goudfain

The Korean government has decided to support the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) capital increase with $150 million (approximately 207.4 billion KRW).

Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, who is visiting Washington, USA to attend the G20 Finance Ministers Meeting and the IMF/WB Spring Meetings, is shaking hands and taking a commemorative photo with Ilang Goudfile, President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), on April 17 (local time) before their meeting at the IDB.

On the 17th (local time), Choi Sang-mok, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, met with Ilan Goldfajn, President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), in Washington D.C., USA, to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation between Korea and the IDB.

On this day, President Goldfajn explained to Deputy Prime Minister Choi the new operational strategy of IDB Invest, which supports the development of the private sector in the Latin American region. IDB Invest is a subsidiary of the IDB established to expand support for the private sector. Since joining in 2015, Korea has continuously cooperated through the operation of the Private Sector Development Innovation Fund (a trust fund supporting regional small and medium-sized enterprises).

Deputy Prime Minister Choi expressed active support for the new operational strategy and conveyed that the Korean government plans to participate in the IDB Invest capital increase (valued at $3.5 billion, approximately 4.8405 trillion KRW) with $150 million (approximately 207.4 billion KRW).

Deputy Prime Minister Choi requested IDB’s cooperation to encourage active participation of Korean companies so that the ‘2nd Korea-Latin America Innovation and Trade Forum,’ scheduled to be held in July in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, can be successfully held following the 1st forum last year (October, Mexico City). The Korea-Latin America Innovation and Trade Forum is a business forum jointly hosted by the Korean government and the IDB in Latin America as part of establishing local strategic bases to promote and diversify Korean companies’ exports to Latin America.

Deputy Prime Minister Choi stated, “Korea’s excellent talents are advancing into the IDB and playing a significant role in smoothly carrying out cooperative projects such as trust funds between Korea and the IDB,” and asked President Goldfajn for continued interest so that more talented and passionate Korean youth can enter the IDB.