Korea Launches New Development Partnership with Private Sector

(New York, 13 August 2012) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today attended the launch of a new and unique partnership to strengthen the Korean contribution to sustainable development around the world.

Led by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Development Partnership Korea aims to provide a platform for Korean stakeholders to discuss ways in which they can better utilize public-private partnerships in support of the Korean Government’s overseas development assistance (ODA).

“There is wide-reaching consensus that the private sector has a critical role in achieving sustainable development,” the Secretary-General said in his remarks at the launch event. “Through its investments, the private sector truly is the backbone of long-term growth.”

A Memorandum of Understanding for the new initiative was signed by a broad range of stakeholders, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Korean Overseas Development Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the Korea NGO Council for Overseas Cooperation, the Federation of Korean Industries, the Korean Council for University Education, the Korea Association for International Development and Cooperation, the Global Compact Korea Network, and the UN Academic Impact.

During its first phase, the initiative plans to foster dialogue on the role of public-private partnerships in support of development cooperation and to identify existing Korean ODA projects in developing countries where this collaboration can make a difference.

As one of the partnership’s original signatories, the Global Compact Korea Network has long advocated the need to bring the private sector into the country’s development cooperation activities. The new partnership follows a 2011 High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan hosted by the Global Compact Korea Network and the Federation of Korean Industries, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the OECD-Business and Industry Advisory Committee. During the Forum, the role of public-private partnerships was recognized as an important mechanism to enhance the impact of development cooperation activities.

On 14 August, the Secretary-General will attend a breakfast meeting with chief executives of companies participating in the Global Compact Korea Network.

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Media Contact

Matthias Stausberg
Spokesperson
UN Global Compact
stausberg@un.org
+1-917-367-3423