Building on a successful partnership over the last four years, the World Bank and the Government of Korea agreed this week to a three-year extension of the World Bank Group Korea Office Trust Fund Agreement.
During its first phase of operations from 2014 to 2018, the office supported a broad range of development partnerships and programs by leveraging the World Bank’s knowledge and convening power and Korea’s impressive development experience.
The new agreement covering the office expansion over the next three years combines the World Bank’s priorities and Korea’s comparative advantages. The office’s newly expanded activities focus largely on support to the World Bank units of Energy; Environment & Natural Resources; Social, Urban, Rural, & Resilience; Fragility, Conflict & Violence; Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation; and Knowledge Management. A focus on mobilizing private sector investment will also be pursued through the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
“We have successfully shared Korea’s remarkable development experience and best practices with dozens of countries thanks to a strong World Bank-Korea partnership,” said Victoria Kwakwa, Regional Vice President, East Asia and Pacific Region. “The expansion allows us to draw even more from Korea’s expertise to enhance knowledge exchange and inform World Bank projects. This can help countries address critical development challenges,” she added.
The Republic of Korea has graduated from IBRD, but actively engages with the World Bank Group in productive ways as a knowledge and learning partner, and an important contributor to the International Development Association (IDA) and World Bank Group trust funds to address global development challenges.
