Invest KOREA

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

The decision was unanimously made during the 52nd round of the IDB annual meeting that ended on Monday in Canada.

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.

“Korea’s story about emerging from being one of the poorest countries after the war to joining 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.

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

Seoul signed a deal with the IDB to jointly conduct development consulting projects for poor countries to nurture human resources, build infrastructure and develop information and technology industries.

Source:  Yonhap News (March 29, 2011)