Keynote Speech
by H.E. Cho Tae-yul
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs
at the Opening Session of the
Seoul ODA International Conference

August 31, 2016

Mr. Shim Jae Kwon, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee of the National Assembly,
Mr. Ahmed Shide, State Minister of Finance and Economic Cooperation of Ethiopia,
Mr. Kim In-shik, President of KOICA,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Seoul ODA International Conference, which proves that this Conference has grown to become a major international forum for discussing a wide range of issues and sharing experiences and knowledge in the area of development cooperation.

Today’s conference is especially timely and relevant because it is being held in the first year of implementing the SDGs adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit last year, with a view to reflecting on the progress made during the past fifteen years of the MDGs era and providing the way forward for international development cooperation in the upcoming era of the SDGs.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all the distinguished participants, especially to those who have traveled a long distance to be here with us today.

Distinguished Guests,

Since the adoption of the MDGs in 2000 with the objective of reducing extreme poverty and hunger in half by the year 2015, the international community has been making concerted efforts to achieve the professed goals.

The MDGs provided an impetus for shifting the focus of international development cooperation from economic growth to people-centered social development, while serving as a reminder that poverty is not a problem of one country alone, but a common task of the global community. The goals also highlighted the importance of global partnership in development cooperation.

In retrospect, the MDGs were the ‘most successful anti-poverty movement in history’. The ratio of the people living in extreme poverty of less than 1.25 US dollars a day vis-a-vis the entire population of the globe fell from 36 percent in 1990 to 12 percent in 2015, and most of the progress has been made since the year 2000.

However, the progress has been uneven across targets, countries, regions and social classes, and there still persist problems such as climate change, gender inequality, gap between rich and poor within and among countries.

It is against this backdrop that last year, the international community adopted the SDGs aimed at higher, broader and deeper targets to achieve sustainable development that encompasses the economic, social and environmental dimensions.

Unlike the MDGs which were mainly focused on poverty eradication and social development, the SDGs strike a balance among the three pillars of social development, economic growth and environment protection. The SDGs also aim towards inclusive growth that leaves no one behind.

With this brief observation, now allow me to share with you some of my thoughts on what to do to make necessary changes for effectively implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the most transformative and inclusive agenda for development in history.

First, we need to increase our support for fragile states and vulnerable groups to achieve inclusive growth across the globe.

Reducing inequalities is specifically provided for in goal 10 of the SDGs as one of its primary goals, and inclusiveness is repeatedly emphasized in other parts of the SDGs such as building peaceful societies, addressing climate change, achieving gender equality and economic growth.

As a matter of fact, approximately two thirds of the fragile states have failed to reach the MDG target of reducing poverty, while 43 percent of the people living in extreme poverty are concentrated in such fragile states. And, in many developing countries including fragile states, vulnerable groups, particularly women, girls, the disabled and ethnic minorities, face a higher risk of poverty and social exclusion.

Bearing this in mind, the Korean government has been focusing its development cooperation efforts on those in greater need for support, and as part of these efforts, we have recently launched the Better Life for Girls Initiative to support girls, one of the most vulnerable groups.

Under this initiative, the Korean government will allocate 200 million US dollars for the next five years to provide wider education opportunities for girls in developing countries, build girls-friendly health and hygiene environment, and support efforts of the local communities to promote gender awareness. We believe that providing quality education for girls in developing countries is the best investment for securing a sustainable future.

Korea has also been contributing to poverty eradication and sustainable development in rural areas, which can easily be left out from economic development focused in urban areas, by presenting Saemaul Undong, Korea’s successful rural development movement of the 1970s, as a new global paradigm for rural development.

In this regard, we have been working closely with the OECD and the UNDP in recent years to draw lessons learned from our experience of Saemaul Undong and share with developing countries the key elements of its success – incentive scheme and competition, trust-based leadership, voluntary and proactive engagement of the people. We are now trying to assist them to adopt Saemaul Undong in such a way that fits into their own contexts and realities. Localization, universalization and modernization may be the key words for the success of these efforts.

Second, we need to build innovative partnerships with the private sector and civil society.

To achieve the SDGs, the most ambitious development goals in history, new resources, especially private financing, is needed in addition to ODA. Global ODA in 2015 amounted to only 132 billion US dollars, while financial resources needed for developing countries to achieve the SDGs is estimated at 3.3 to 4.5 trillion US dollars. Therefore, an innovative approach that goes beyond business as usual is critical.

It is with this perspective that KOICA has come up with the Creative Technology Solution (CTS) program that helps to identify ideas to resolve the social problems of developing countries based on innovative technology and support their market testing and commercialization.

Under this program, a Korean start-up business Noul has invented a kit to quickly and accurately diagnose and treat malaria. This kit is expected to greatly contribute to reducing the malaria mortality rate of children and increasing access to malaria diagnosis across the world.

We are also making innovative efforts to combine private investment with development cooperation. For instance, a Korean company CJ worked together with KOICA to help poor Vietnamese farms plant chili and thereby laid the groundwork for increasing their income, while securing a source of stable supply of chili for the company. Referring to this initiative, in its recent edition, US-based business magazine Fortune named CJ among the seven world-changing innovative companies and praised it for taking the lead in creating an innovative model of CSV, that is, creating shared value.

Such partnerships will not only create value for the companies, but also contribute to improving the economic and social environment of their partner developing countries. This attests to the fact that business thrives when the society thrives.

Third, an integrated approach and policy coherence are critical to achieve the SDGs that encompass social, economic and environmental dimensions.

Given that unlike the MDGs, developed countries are also required to implement the SDGs domestically due to the universal nature of the SDGs, policies in all areas including, among others, immigration and trade should be devised in such a way that they contribute to the common prosperity of the global village.

Above all, a government-wide, integrated approach is necessary to ensure that the policies of all government agencies are well coordinated to contribute to the implementation of the SDGs.

In Korea, the whole government is working together to implement the SDGs: the Committee for International Development Cooperation chaired by the Prime Minister adopts the mid-term ODA policy periodically, while the National Commission on Green Growth promotes the development of low-carbon and green technology industries and the National Commission on Sustainable Development designs the basic plan for sustainable development every five years.

Last January, the Korean government came up with the Third Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development to implement the SDGs. In order to achieve harmonious development of the society, economy and environment, we are taking a holistic approach with four major objectives – healthy land, integrated and safe society, inclusive and creative economy and global responsibility.

Distinguished Guests,

Today, I have talked about what to do in the era of the SDGs. But, equally important is how to achieve them.

Whereas the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development set the direction on what to do in which areas, the Busan Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC) provides us with guidelines for implementing the SDGs.

I hope we can work together to maximize the development impact by respecting and implementing the Busan principles of development effectiveness, which include country ownership, results-based development cooperation, inclusive partnership, transparency and mutual accountability.

In particular, I would like to emphasize the importance of national ownership of aid recipient countries. Sustainable development is possible only when the government and people of the recipient countries actively engage in designing and implementing their own national development strategies.

Development effectiveness can also be reinforced by inclusive partnership, a partnership in which all development actors participate in the overall process of development, including preparation, planning and execution, and share the benefits. To this end, communication with the private sector and civil society should be further strengthened, while the expertise and resources of each actor should be combined to contribute to the implementation of the SDGs.

From this perspective, success of the Second High-Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC), which will be held in Kenya this December, is very important. Korea has been contributing to advancing the discussions on development effectiveness by hosting the Busan Global Partnership Forum on an annual basis since 2014. We hope to contribute to the success of the Second High Level Meeting of the GPEDC by hosting the 3rd Busan Forum this October.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There is an African saying that “If you want to be a tree, stand alone. If you want to be a green forest, stand together.” To achieve sustainable development encompassing social, economic and environmental dimensions, we need to share our individual expertise and experiences, and act together.

I sincerely hope that this conference will serve as an excellent opportunity to pull our wisdom on the direction we should take together to achieve the SDGs.

Thank you. /END/