2019 KRIHS-IDB Urban Development Academy (KIUDA) Opening Ceremony : Opening ceremony for the invitation program for high-ranking government officials from Latin America hosted by KRIHS and IDB

Date: May 20, 2019

Venue: Grand Hyatt Hotel Seoul

Theme: Sharing Experiences on Development of Korea and Finding Cooperation Measures in the Urban and Housing Sector of Latin America

Global Development Partnership Center (GDPC) of Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS) hosted the opening ceremony of KRIHS-IDB Urban Development Academy (KIUDA) for 11 high-level officials from 6 countries. This is a part of 5-year program, jointly designed by KRIHS and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Among the participants in the program were Germán Xavier Torres Correa, the Minister of Ministry of Urban Development and Housing in Ecuador, Patricio Morera Víquez, the Vice Minister of Ministry of Housing and Human Settlements in Costa Rica, other high-ranking officials from 6 countries (Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Ecuador) and 2 staffs from IDB.

In the opening ceremony at the 1st day of the program, the President of KRIHS, Hyun-Soo Kang emphasized the challenges of rapid urbanization in Korea and LAC countries, and hoped that both countries could share the experiences and grow together through the program, as the title “KIUDA” means to build and grow based on knowledge exchange and solid relationship.

In addition, he expected that this program would be a great opportunity to share the experiences and find important implications beyond the political, social, and institutional differences among Korea and LAC countries.

Germán Xavier Torres Correa, the Minister of Ministry of Urban Development and Housing in Ecuador extended expectation and appreciation to KRIHS and IDB that organize this program through his speech. Also he highlighted the importance of developing public houses responding to rapid urbanization, and hoped that this would be an important chance for the participants to find applicable solutions to each country from Korea’s best practices.

The lead specialist in IDB, Dr. Andres Blanco mentioned that issues including Korea’s territorial plan, new town policy, free economic zone and smart city should be discussed and shared through the KIUDA program. In addition, he encouraged mutual collaboration and cooperation to be pursued in the future and introduced previous fruitful outcome from cooperation between KRIHS and LAC countries in territorial and urban planning sector.

Afterwards, Se Hoon Park, the director of GDPC introduced KRIHS, and highlighted the topics and areas, where research and mutual collaboration could be pursued in the future.

Following the opening ceremony, Kyunghwan Kim, the professor of Sogang University delivered a presentation on Korea’s urbanization and economic development under the theme of Korea's experience and economic development. After, Wonsup Lee, the senior research fellow of KRIHS, explained Korea’s territorial development policies and policy framework. During the Q&A session, participants asked questions about national territorial development process of Korea, relevant to issues of each country.

Afterwards, during the country report presentation session, the participants from the LAC countries addressed current status and challenges of each country in the urban sector. Most of them pointed the common problems of reckless development and its side effects from rapid urbanization, and frequently emphasized inclusive development for social vulnerable groups.

During the 5-day program with lectures, site visits and discussions, KRIHS, IDB and LAC countries are going to share Korea’s territorial planning, urban and housing development experiences and discuss measures for future cooperation. It is expected that this program would be a great opportunity to develop strong mutual cooperation between Korea and LAC countries.