Korea, OECD seek to raise transparency of state-owned enterprises

By Kim Tae-gyu

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) started a conference in Seoul Tuesday to promote the transparency and performances of state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The ninth meeting of the OECD-Asia Network on Corporate Governance of SOEs, which started in 2005, aims at supporting ongoing efforts to help Asian governments identify priorities for SOE reform through knowledge sharing among decision makers.

With the theme of “disclosure and transparency in the SOE sector,” this year’s edition attracted government representatives from Asia as well as SOEs, civil society, international organizations and corporate governance practitioners.

The state-backed Korea Institute of Public Finance (KIPF) and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF) also played a pivotal role for the high-profile gathering, which built on the key pillars of the recently revised OECD guidelines on corporate governance of SOEs.

The guidelines have served as a global benchmark for countries reforming ownership and governance practices in SOEs since their debut midway through 2000s.

KIPF President Park Hyung-soo expressed the institute’s commitment on the OECD agendas.

“The Korean government is committed to supporting the work of the OECD on improving the ownership and corporate governance of SOEs in Asia,” Park said.

“The KIPF is happy to host this meeting and is pleased to contribute to the network’s initiative on sharing good practices for improving performance and transparency in the state-owned enterprise sector.”

MOSF Director Shin Eon-Joo said that Korea finds the meeting a good chance to share its experience in developing its SOE disclosure and transparency practices with emerging markets and developing countries in Asia.

“In particular, we hope to share our experience in implementing Alio, an online repository of both financial and non-financial information of all public institutions including SOEs,” said Shin, who is in charge of the ministry’s public institutions management information division.

“It is considered a good practice in SOE disclosure in internaional community.”

Through the meeting, the OECD-Asia Network said that it takes stock of emerging trends in state ownership in Asia, evaluates them against worldwide standards and identifies elements of good practice.

It added that on top of its role in promoting the good practice governance standard, the network facilitates closer integration between state ownership practitioners in Asia and OECD delegates.