OREANDA-NEWS. March 30, 2015. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government of Korea expanded their already ongoing and effective partnership with a new \\$100 million lending facility.

In a signing ceremony on the side of the IDB-IIC Board of Governors Annual Meeting in Busan, Korea, IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno and Deputy Prime Minister & the Minister of Strategy and Finance of Korea Choi Kyung Hwan met to establish the Korea Infrastructure Development Co-financing Facility for Latin America and the Caribbean.

With initial funding of US\\$100 million, the facility is expected to serve as the primary platform for co-financing between the IDB and Korea, allowing the partners to finance projects in a variety of sectors that contribute to the region’s development.

On the infrastructure side, President Moreno and Minister Il ho Yoo of Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport signed a separate Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to facilitate collaboration in the area of transport and infrastructure development. Sharing both parties’ experiences and knowledge in the sector, the agreement will make possible joint projects such as a feasibility study.

Lastly, the IDB and Korea’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF) committed to further collaboration to evaluate the performance of the Korea Trust Funds and guide replenishment and areas of future partnership.

The joint facility and the infrastructure-focused MOU herald a new period of expanded collaboration between Korea and the IDB, as well as Korea and the Latin American and Caribbean region more broadly.

These agreements, as well as the co-hosting of the Annual Meeting by the Bank’s Korean partners, underscore the strong ties between Latin America and the Caribbean and Korea, which joined the Bank ten years ago as a non-borrowing member country.

About the IDB:

The Inter-American Development Bank, the leading source of financing for the development financing for Latin American and the Caribbean, promotes effective approaches to address Latin America and the Caribbean’s economic, social, institutional, and environmental development challenges. Over more than 50 years, the IDB has approved more than \\$230 billion in loans for projects in key sectors such as infrastructure, energy, water and sanitation, education and health, with an emphasis on poverty reduction.

About the Government of Korea:

Korea joined the IDB in 2005 as the Bank’s 47th member. The Asian nation has financed several IDB initiatives since then, including poverty alleviation programs, the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Latin America and the Caribbean, and knowledge sharing programs, among others.