Korea Week was held from June 1st to 5th, 2015 at Sheraton Incheon Hotel in Seoul with the theme “Retrospect and Prospect.” It was jointly hosted and organized by the World Bank Group (WBG) and the Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance. The event was to celebrate 60th anniversary of strong and close cooperation and partnership with the Republic of Korea and the World Bank Group. The participants were from World Bank Group, Korean government, foreign governments and the KDI School of Public Policy and Management. Other main facilitators were professors from the KDI School; Kyung-wook Hur, Professor of Public Finance/ International Economy, Taejong Kim, Professor and Managing Director, Songsu Choi, Professor, and Haiyoung Yun, Assistant Dean of Capacity Building Center.

Korea had received aids and loans from the World Bank, amounting to 15 billion dollars. Within half a century, Korea had transformed itself from a recipient country to a donor country. Finally Korea has become the only country in the world with remarkable record: GDP per capita of 20,000 dollars with a population of over 50 million. Ms. Joyce Msuya, the Special Representative of the World Bank Group Korea, highlighted that significant support of partnerships from a wide range of stakeholders such as Korean government, public and private entities, and people are critical in helping the World Bank to eradicate extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity.

On the first day of the conference, Joachim von Amsberg, Vice President, Development Finance, WBG, focused on how the World Bank started its operations in Korea by providing an International Development Association (IDA) credit to expand and improve the Korea National Railway. Korea is now the 15th largest economy in the world, which is a key development partner of the WBG and an important contributor to IDA.

Bert Hofman, the Country Director at Republic of Korea World Bank, WBG, centered his statement on WBG and Korea Program Projects. The projects included diverse innovative partnership, cross-cutting solution, green infrastructure, renewable energy, communication technology know-hows, supporting and accelerating knowledge sharing, and assisting conflict states. He noted that these partnerships span the globe, covering all regions and benefiting wealth of countries—from Mexico and India to Mali and Indonesia.

In the second day, main speakers from International Finance Corporation(IFC) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency(MIGA) discussed issues in investments in emerging markets, triparty cooperation among investors and financial and the public sector. The speakers noted that WBG’s partnership with Korean private sector has been reinforced and facilitated by the presence of IFC and MIGA in Korea. The next session further focused on Korea’s effective utilization of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and “exportation” of Korean lessons. They are related to institution-building and the methods that how Korea organized itself to achieve economic development through PPPs. The final session was on Korea’s experience in building financial system, role of international financial institute such as WBG in this effort and challenging Korea and other Asian economies to go forward in integrating global financial landscape.

Korea Week provided diverse programs including four parallel side events: An International Tax Conference for Development and Growth, the World Bank Group 2nd Annual Korea Green Innovation Days-Leveraging Growth for Climate Change Action, a conference about Perspectives on Economic Transitions and a conference on Governance of State-Owned Enterprises (SOE)- State Oversight and Performance Monitoring in East and South Asia.

The main speakers in the thematic sessions covered topics including: closing Gaps in information & Communications Technology, Urban and Climate Change and Accelerating of Development through Leadership, Learning & Innovation; Fostering Competition; Using the Korean Effective PPP Program Implementation to improve Governance in other Countries and Financial Systems for Sustainable development.

The public engagement day, the third day of conference, was held at the National Museum of History in Seoul. Main speakers discussed how the WBG will adapt into new and powerful global economic currents to provide innovation and multidisciplinary solutions to help solve global developmental challenges. The speakers emphasized leveraging the role of private sector and practical suggestions for effective, accountable and legitimate WBG in rapidly changing global economy. The last session covered how current and former WBG shared their experience on International Bank for Reconstruction and Development(IBRD), IFC and MIGA working together as “One World Bank Group” to bring solutions to developmental challenges.

By Leah Chepkoske Waweru (2014 MDP, Kenya)