Infrastructure and Green Growth Experts Meet in Venezuela

Representatives of CAF—development bank of Latin America—gathered with members of the Korean Embassy and a variety of infrastructure and green growth experts, in Venezuela, during the “Green Growth and Infrastructure Development” forum, a two-part event aiming to discuss the importance of green economic cooperation for regional development.

During the first seminar, a panel of Korean experts reviewed the progress of several international projects led by their country in terms of infrastructure and green growth, as well as funding policies for this type of initiatives by Korean institutions. On the second day, CAF representatives discussed the array of infrastructure projects funded by the bank, as well as its financing policies.

The opening ceremony featured speeches by Chargé d’affaires of the Korean Embassy in Caracas Dongil Oh, Head of the Korean Delegation Jaesoon Park, and CAF Foreign Affairs Secretary Luis Mayaute. “This forum has become an opportunity to express the readiness of CAF and the Republic of Korea to work on green growth projects,” said Park. Meanwhile, Mayaute thanked participants for their attendance and stressed that Korean investments in the region have spiked from $620 million in 2003 to $8.1 billion in 2018, reflecting the importance they attach to the region. He also highlighted the opportunity to “exchange knowledge that translates into advancing the region’s green growth.”

In his keynote speech, Lee Beomhyun, a researcher with South Korea’s Urban Land Institute, focused on developing Smart Cities to boost green growth. Kim Sungjin, director of the Korea-Peru Infrastructure Cooperation Center, outlined the perspective and strategy of infrastructure work in Korea, while Changwoo Park, project manager at the Development Office of the Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Support Corporation (KIND), presented the private infrastructure investment strategy for Latin America. Lastly, Jo Suik , Korean Railway Association (KR Network) International Projects Office director, described the strategy for building a high-speed train in Latin America.

Sandra Conde provided an overview of the institution's infrastructure policies, while Country Program Vice-Presidency head Roberto Agostini presented details on CAF’s Country Program strategy. During this session, CAF Digital Agenda coordinator Mauricio Agudelo reviewed the institution's digital transformation strategies for Latin America, following CAF Infrastructure Analysis and Technical Assessment senior executive Juan Rios’s presentation on the issues facing the region’s power sector, as well as the financing strategies implemented to address them.

“Digitization in project design and planning can provide an opportunity to do more with fewer resources at a higher quality,” CAF Digital Agenda coordinator Mauricio Agudelo said. “To that end, solutions such as spatial georeferencing, as well as digitally developing different interventions beforehand and the use of public data to measure previous impacts, can make a difference toward projects that maximize impact and cut costs,” Agudelo added.

The initiative is organized by CAF, in conjunction with the Korean Embassy, with the aim of reiterating the institution’s commitment to sustainable development and regional integration. As of 2012, the bank has sponsored six such events addressing different aspects of the topic in question, which include the General Framework for Green Cooperation in Korea (2012); Solid Waste Management and Energy Efficiency (2013); Water and Green Growth (2014); Forestry Sector Development (2015); Sustainable Transport (2016); and Smart Cities (2017).