작년 국제기구로 거듭난 글로벌녹색성장연구소(GGGI)가 녹색기후기금(GCF) 사무국이 들어설 인천 송도로의 이전을 검토하고 있다고 관계자들이 밝혔다.
GGGI 관계자는 최근 “인천시로부터 10년 사무실 무상임대를 제의받고 이전을 검토 중”이라며 “만약 가게 된다면 GCF가 위치할 I-타워에 입주하게 될 것”이라고 말했다.
김성환 전 외교통상부 장관 및 청와대 관계자들은 지난 1월 아부다비에서 열린 GGGI 2차 이사회에 참석, 본부 인천 이전안을 비공식적으로 타진한 것으로 알려졌다. 또한 이 관계자들은 GGGI의 3차 이사회를 인천 송도에서 개최하는 방안을 추진하고 있으며 이때 본부 이전이 공식 안건으로 논의될 수도 있다고 덧붙였다.
시는 지난 10월 GCF 사무국을 송도에 유치한 후 GGGI 본부와 녹색성장기술센터(GTC-K) 등 다른 환경분야 국제기구를 그 일대에 집중 유치하겠다는 전략을 추진하고 있다.
시는 GCF 사무국에 I-타워 내 15개 층을 10년간 단계적으로 무상 임대하고 인근 송도 컨벤시아를 연간 20일간 무료 사용하도록 약속한 바 있으며 기획재정부와 더불어 일부 운영비를 부담할 예정이다.
GGGI에게도 유사한 혜택과 함께 6개층 정도의 공간을 제안했을 것으로 예상되고 있다.
인천시청 GCF 태스크 포스의 이국화 차관은 “협의가 아직 진행중이므로 공식적으로 확인해주기 어렵다”고 말했다.
GGGI는 송도로 이전함으로써 녹색도시로서의 송도의 브랜드를 높이고 GCF와 연구 및 사업 계획에서의 시너지 효과를 기대하고 있다. (코리아헤럴드 / 신현희 기자)
<관련 영문 기사>
GGGI mulls relocating to Songdo
By Shin Hyon-hee
The Global Green Growth Institute is considering moving to the international business district of Songdo, Incheon, to take advantage of a synergy effect with the Green Climate Fund and various incentives from the city government, officials told The Korea Herald.
The Incheon city government has recently offered the Seoul-based GGGI benefits including 10-year free lease of office space and operating cost subsidies.
“We’re looking into the option after receiving an offer of free office space for 10 years from the city,” a GGGI official said on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been finalized.
The GGGI was set up in 2010 by the Korean government to bridge rich and poor countries in sharing technological knowhow for and funding environmentally friendly development. Last October, it became an international agency with support from 17 other founding member countries.
If the plan materializes, the organization will move into Songdo’s I-Tower, where the GCF’s secretariat will be established, facilitating their coordination in research and policy and project planning.
Former Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan and other Seoul officials are believed to have informally had raised the GGGI’s possible transfer during its second board meeting in January in Abu Dhabi.
The third board meeting scheduled for June may take place in Songdo with the relocation plan on its official agenda, observers have said.
Lee Kook-hwa, an official at the city office, confirmed the proposal but declined to further discuss because the talks are “still ongoing.”
The reclaimed island in the West Sea has been courting multinational bodies, major corporations and prominent foreign schools as part of the city’s efforts to transform into a regional business, logistics and tourism hotspot.
Incheon has promised the GCF to gradually provide 15 floors of office space at the 33-story I-Tower by 2020 and a right to use the Songdo Conventia conference center for 20 days a year, all free of charge for 10 years. It will also shoulder part of the GCF’s operating expenses along with the Finance Ministry.
The U.N. body is the first major agency to be set up there, planning to raise some $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries cut greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to global warming.
In last year’s interview with the Korea Herald, GGGI Director-General Richard Samans said he was expecting “whole synergy” between the two institutions.
“The success of the fund rests on operational capacity, which will need not only a strong policy plan but also investment case, and that’s the area in which the GGGI is very specialized,” he said. (
heeshin@heraldcorp.com)
