Korea to host IDB annual meet in 2015

Korea will host an annual meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank in 2015, a chance that the government expects would deepen its economic cooperation with American countries, the finance ministry said Tuesday.

The decision was unanimously made during the 52nd round of the IDB annual meeting that ended on Monday in Canada, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said in a press release.

Founded in 1959, the Washington-based IDB is the main source of multilateral financing for Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2005, Korea joined the IDB, the second Asian member along with Japan. The organization currently has 48 member nations.

During the four-day meeting, Korea’s delegation led by Vice Finance Minister Yim Jong-yong continued its bid to host the gathering by appealing to IDB chief Luis Alberto Moreno and representatives of its member countries, the ministry said.

“Korea’s story about emerging from being one of the poorest countries after the war to joining most actively in helping to rebuild Haiti was introduced as an exemplary case to member nations. Its role in Central and South American countries also drew great recognition from participants,” a finance ministry official said.

The ministry expects that hosting the IDB meeting in Korea will deepen its economic cooperation with other IDB member countries down the road.

Around 2,000 people including finance ministers, financial experts and businesspeople from the member countries are expected to attend the 2015 meeting in Korea, the ministry added.

In a separate move, Seoul signed a deal with the IDB to jointly conduct development consulting projects for poor countries. The cooperation will focus on offering consulting for those nations to nurture human resources, build infrastructure and develop information and technology industries, the ministry said.

That is part of Seoul’s efforts to sign a similar deal with five multilateral development banks by the end of this year in a bid to share its development experience with the world.

The banks include the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the African Development Bank, according to the ministry. 

(Yonhap News)