Expanding Cooperation with Latin America
The Korean government signed an agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for an additional US$ 300 million in a syndicate loan from the Economic Development and Cooperation Fund (EDCF).
Kim Dong-Yeon, deputy prime minister and minister of strategy and finance of Korea, met with Alberto Moreno, president of the IDB who attended the 4th Korea-Latin America Business Summit and signed the “Second EDCF-IDB Syndicate Loan Agreement” on October 23.
The IDB is an international financial institution established in 1959 to promote economic development in Central and South America, and Korea joined the bank in 2005.
The EDFC-IDB Syndicate Loan Program has given financial aid for the infrastructure projects of developing countries in Latin America since 2015. The first support was US$100 million.
The two sides the agreement after expanding the amount to US$300 million based on their consensus that the project had contributed to the diversification of the EDCF's infrastructure projects in Latin America and Korean companies' entry into Latin America.
The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to boost exchanges between South Korea and Latin America, which will expand Koreans’ entries into the IDB.
Deputy prime minister Kim also asked president Moreno for strong support for Korea so that Korea will be able to actively play its role in the IDB Group as an alternative director of the Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) under the IDB Group beginning in the second half of next year. In response, "We will continue to support the expansion of Korea’s roles in the IDB," Moreno said.