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| Victoria Kwakwa, World Bank Regional Vice President of East Asia and the Pacific. Courtesy of WBG Korea Office |
Vice President of East Asia and the Pacific excited that bank's former client is now a partner
By Ko Dong-hwan
Victoria Kwakwa, the World Bank's vice president for East Asia and the Pacific, said the evolving partnership between the bank and Korea contributed to the successful cases of sustainable, innovative growth in developing countries at a two-day forum recently held in Seoul.
The Ghanaian, who oversees countries in the region that borrow money and employ innovative means of economic development from the bank, dubbed Korea a "clear leader in this agenda" and a "powerful example to others." The praise derives from her acknowledgement that the country has been helping regional neighbors boost their growth.
"Korea invested much in its people," Kwakwa told The Korea Times, while attending the Global Innovative Growth Forum (GIGF) 2019 held at JW Marriot Hotel in Seoul on Nov. 7. "It has a high proportion of research and development as a share of gross domestic product. High information and the communication technology (ICT) index and e-government development index are also good indicators.
"In the region where the basic infrastructure is there for technological application, whether for e-government, e-education, e-health, Korea's examples come in very handy."
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| Victoria Kwakwa, center, at Global Innovative Growth Forum 2019 at JW Marriott Hotel Seoul in the city's Seocho District, Nov. 7. Courtesy of WBG Korea Office |
The World Bank Group Korea office tapped countries its specialists work with to introduce some of the disruptive technologies from Korea and finance such operations through Korea Green Growth Trust Fund (KGGTF), which is one of the bank's Korean government-funded trust funds.
Funded by the KGGTF, the office's land and geospatial information specialist is leading Vietnam's improved land governance project, which digitizes information in 33 local provinces and supports the country's IT system infrastructure.
With the bank's help, Mongolia and the Philippines also upgraded their own geospatial information management ― crucial for developing smart cities, introducing precision agriculture, and combating climate change.
To improve Vietnam's industrial energy efficiency with Korea's comprehensive technical assistance package, the office's energy specialist bridged the KGGTF's Vietnamese activity and the Korea International Cooperation Agency's relevant projects in Vietnam that altogether cost $2.3 million.
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| Financed from the KGGTF, the World Bank in October 2019 arranged a field trip to Vietnam's Kien Giang Province and worked with Rach Gia City Branch Representative Office to improve geospatial information management system there. Courtesy of KGGTF |
Vietnam and Myanmar worked with the Korea Maritime Institute and the Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation, with supports from the KGGTF and the Korean office's environmental specialist, to develop vessel monitoring systems, record vital information for fishery management, and improve other innovative technologies in fisheries, aquaculture, marine pollution and coastal resources management.
The Korean Ministry of Environment and the Korea Environmental and Technology Institute provided Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar with technical assistance in solid waste and pollution management ― such as waste collecting trucks fitted with tracking devices and radiofrequency identification to track their movement in landfills. In March 2019, the KGGTF organized a high-level knowledge exchange in Korea for Cambodian government officials to introduce them to Korea's solid waste and pollution policies and business models.
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| A field research at Nam Son cement factory in Chuong My Prefecture in Hanoi, Vietnam, in July 2019 was funded by the World Bank and the Korea Green Growth Trust Fund to improve the country's industrial energy efficiency. Courtesy of KGGTF |
The bank believes disruptive technologies are an "important driver of growth" for developing countries in the region as they help to increase productivity and build more efficient economies.
Services like health and education can be delivered in ways that reach more people, create more job opportunities, and allow governments to function with more transparency, according to Kwakwa. She pointed out farmers using mobile apps to access price data for their products as one example.
"Of course there are downside risks," Kwakwa said. "You must make sure that disruptive technology platforms don't concentrate too much monopoly power on certain entities. You must also look at data protection and privacy. The technologies must be rolled out to most people because many don't have basic access to their power and internet infrastructure.
"This is why we are keen to partner with countries like Korea, to learn their experiences and work with Korean entities that applied such technologies to benefit other developing countries in the region and elsewhere."
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| In March 2019, Cambodian government officials visited Sudokwon Landfill Site Management Corporation in Incheon and learned how the company collects and manages massive solid wastes from Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province. Courtesy of KGGTF |
From client to partner
The bank lends money to its clients and gives them technical advice and knowledge services. If the client states do well afterwards, they graduate, become the bank's shareholders and do not do much with the bank.
Korea, according to Kwakwa, is unique in that it was once the bank's client and is now its partner.
"It's an exciting thing because we can continue working with countries even after they graduated with no lending relationship," Kwakwa said. "Yes, the world bank is a development practitioner helping countries. But it's even more powerful to have countries that have chartered their own development paths and then work with us to develop other countries. It's much more meaningful."
The bank's Korean office in Songdo, Incheon, connects the bank to public and private entities in Korea. It shares Korea's knowledge to help developing countries and promotes co-financing with the bank.
The Export-Import Bank of Korea is part of the financers behind the bank's Tina River Hydropower Development Project in the Solomon Islands. The project, replacing more than half of the country's diesel-generated power with hydro, aims to lower the electricity price there, which is one of the world's most expensive.
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| Vietnamese environment bureau officials in October 2018 check out Korea's fishery management technologies and other Korean technologies in aquaculture, marine pollution and coastal resources management at Korea Marine Environment Management Corporation's Busan Office. Courtesy of KGGTF |
"The bank, together with the Korean office and the Korean Ministry of Economy and Finance, will develop a strong brand around green growth innovation as its main focus," Kwakwa said. The ministry co-hosted GIGF 2019 with the bank. "We are doing similarly in Singapore and Indonesia."
The bank's partnership with Korea comes amid what she said was a synchronized slowdown of the global economy, with trade tension, increased tariffs and uncertainties around trade policies causing investment to be moderated.
Due to the outlook, the bank downgraded its growth projection for East Asia and the Pacific this year to about 5.8 percent from last year's 6.3 percent. It forecast 5.7 and 5.6 percent in 2020 and 2021.
"This is not a bad growth but lower than potential for the region," said Kwakwa. "But even with these constraints, several of the regional countries have good macroeconomic buffers."
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| Representatives of Korea Water Resources Corporation and Korea's Hyundai Engineering sign contracts for Tina River Hydro Dam Project on the Solomon Islands at the country's Paul Tovuo Complex in December 2018. Twitter |
She said countries in the region needed new growth models to adapt to a "technological megatrend." The challenge was to find new sources of productivity, such as productivity away from labor-intensive approach.
Another challenge was to invest in human capital to resolve high rates of stunted childhood, learning poverty ― children aged up to 10 and unable to read or comprehend a simple passage ― and inequality.
Sustainability of more environmental growth also challenged countries to stop growing on the back of environmental damage. This issue ― although she mentioned a few countries ― applies to almost all countries.
"An increasing number of countries are contributors to greenhouse gas emissions globally," Kwakwa said. "Countries are recognizing, adapting to make them more resilient to climate challenges and committable to make a nationally determined contribution and the Paris Agreement."
