Choo Kyung-ho: "Advanced Countries' Industrial Policies Should Consider Developing Countries' Constraints in Global Market Entry"

The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced that Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho attended the G7 (Group of Seven) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting held in Niigata, Japan, from the 11th to the 13th of this month. At the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Choo discussed ways for the international community to support economic growth in developing countries.

In his keynote speech during the first session on "Addressing the Economic Challenges Faced by Developing Countries," Deputy Prime Minister Choo proposed support measures from advanced countries such as the G7 to help developing countries overcome poverty and realize their growth potential, based on South Korea’s growth experience from being one of the poorest countries to achieving economic development.

Deputy Prime Minister Choo stated, "For low-income countries lacking the capacity to raise capital for investment, support from multilateral development banks (MDBs) and aid from advanced countries are essential," adding, "This requires sufficient resource mobilization for MDBs and resolution of debt issues in low-income countries." He also emphasized the importance of transferring technology and institutional development experience from advanced countries to middle-income countries undergoing economic structural advancement, introducing South Korea’s "Knowledge Sharing Program (KSP)" which has been implemented since 2004.

Deputy Prime Minister Choo said, "Just as Korea achieved rapid economic growth by participating in the global division of labor in the past, care must be taken so that advanced countries’ industrial policies, such as green transition, do not restrict developing countries’ access to the global market." He added, "At the same time, cooperation models between advanced and developing countries, such as partial Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) on specific products or more flexible Economic Partnership Agreements than FTAs, should be expanded."

On the 12th, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho discussed international community support measures for the economic growth of developing countries at the G7 Finance Ministers' Meeting held at the Niigata Convention Center in Japan.

Furthermore, in the second session on "Global Cooperation for Sustainable and Inclusive Growth," he explained the usefulness of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RST) as a support measure for structural reforms in developing countries amid weakened fiscal capacity after the pandemic. He also emphasized Korea’s commitment to participate in supplying quality infrastructure and global supply chain cooperation for developing countries. Deputy Prime Minister Choo proposed, "Quality infrastructure should be supplied to developing countries through cooperation among various actors, including public-private partnerships and international development institutions."

Taking this trip as an opportunity, Deputy Prime Minister Choo met with Italy’s Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti, as Italy will chair the G7 next year, urging enhanced cooperation not only within the G20, of which both countries are members, but also within the G7. He also discussed with Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, who attended as an invited country, the sharing of policy experiences and trade cooperation between the two countries in labor, pension, and education sectors where Korea is pursuing structural reforms.

Additionally, Deputy Prime Minister Choo expressed agreement on the importance of rules-based multilateral trade and emphasized cooperation on trade policies. In particular, he agreed that further cooperation in the digital sector is possible, starting with the Korea-Singapore Digital Partnership Agreement that came into effect in January this year. The two countries agreed to strengthen cooperation in various fields, including culture and content, finance and fintech, and sustainable finance.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.