Welcoming Remarks
by H.E. Cho Tae-yul
Vice Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea
At the 8th Seoul ODA International Conference
September 2, 2014

Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is indeed a great pleasure for me to welcome all of you to the 8th Seoul ODA International Conference. The Seoul ODA International Conference, the first ever hosted by the Republic of Korea to discuss the issue of global poverty, was launched back in 2007. It was a reflection of Korea’s commitment to contribute to promoting the shared growth of both rich and poor members of the global community.

I would like to thank President Kim Young-mok of KOICA and his staff for their hard work to jointly organize this annual event with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I also wish to thank Minister Kim Sung-Hwan and all the other distinguished experts including those from abroad for participating in this important meeting.

Distinguished Guests,

As you all know, Korea has transformed itself from a poverty-stricken aid recipient to a full-fledged donor country within half a century. In 2009, Korea even joined the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of OECD -- a club of advanced donor countries. A year later, as chair of G20, Korea took an initiative for drawing up the Seoul Development Consensus, thereby placing development at the heart of the G20 agenda. In 2011, as host of the Busan High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, Korea again played a leading role in shifting the paradigm for global development cooperation from ‘aid effectiveness’ to ‘effective development’ and building a more comprehensive and inclusive partnership.

As the first recipient-turned-donor country in the world, Korea is now recognized by the global community as an actor to be reckoned with in the area of development cooperation. However, with its short history and experience in development cooperation, Korea cannot compete with traditional donor countries by expanding the size of its ODA package alone. It must focus its efforts on ways to differentiate its contribution from that of other donor countries with its quality as opposed to quantity. The most effective way for Korea to be a visible and reliable development partner is to fully utilize its unique development experience. Focusing on a certain area of its specialty where its contribution could outperform the other players could be one way of doing so. And I believe that good governance and effective institutions -- the main theme of this year’s Conference -- are the issues on which Korea can make its valuable contributions.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

To eradicate poverty, intangible infrastructure such as governance and institutions has as much important a role to play as tangible assets such as foreign aid. However, they had not received the limelight until the 1980s when, after going through many trials and errors on the ODA policy, the international community began to realize the importance of good governance and effective institutions for development.

“Africa is not poor, but just poorly managed.” These are the words of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, Nobel Peace laureate and Africa’s first female president. What an eloquent testimony to the importance of good governance and effective institutions!

Of course, there is no clear-cut definition of good governance and effective institutions. However, we can benefit from the insight of Aristotle whose primary interest lied in translating the capacity of the members of the society into their growing happiness. We can also be enlightened by the fact that the Greek word kybernatas, which is the origin of the word governance, means the steersman of a ship. As indicated as such, we may define good governance and effective institutions as a social system that provides the way forward to enhance people’s happiness and the quality of their life.

Korea’s experience may provide a good evidence to show how important a tool good governance and effective institutions are to make development happen on the ground. It was truly thanks to its governance and institutions that Korea was able to rise above the ruins of the war in the 1950s and escape from the absolute poverty only in a generation or so thereafter.

At the initial stage of Korea’s economic development in the 1960s and 1970s, visionary and committed political leaders, passionate and motivated people, and the dedicated and competent technocrats formed a trinity in setting up the governance to improve the quality of people’s life. The then strong political leadership committed to overcoming national poverty instilled a ‘can-do-spirit’ in the Korean people. And a large pool of technocrats capable of effectively designing and implementing national development strategy translated the commitment of the leaders and people into a range of effective institutions across the society. And this prevented the waste of the capacity and resources of Korea and its people. In particular, the government effectively utilized aid to leverage other development resources and the full ownership of development by all citizens played a critical role in making reform happen.

On top of this, across-the-board liberalization and full democratization in the 1980s through 1990s greatly contributed to moving Korea toward the next stage of development, transforming the entire society. Increasing call for a more open and democratic society, deregulation and competitive market changed the role of state. As the private sector outgrew the government, the government-led development plan became no longer relevant in Korea since its most important goal, that is, to strengthen private firms and help them grow into a dynamic and sustainable engine of the national economy, had already been achieved.

All in all, Korea’s economic growth and prosperity is the fruit of good governance and effective institutions. Korea’s success story, however, is not always applicable to other developing countries. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ formula or single best practice for all. The political economy varies from one country to another. Reflecting the diversity of each country’s own context is essential to make reform happen. Sustainable development outcomes can only be achieved by owning them through ‘learning by doing’.

I am confident that the Seoul ODA International Conference provides an excellent opportunity to share experiences of different countries and lessons learned on this important subject. I sincerely hope that throughout the discussions at this Conference, we will benefit from your wisdom and insight in seeking best means and practices to build good governance and effective institutions in different contexts and circumstances. I wish you a good luck in your intellectual exercise today.

Thank you. /END/