Date: July 9, 2015

At: Lotte Hotel Seoul

Yu Il Ho, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, met KIUDA participants, mainly ministers and high-ranking officials from LAC countries, on July 9, in Seoul, Korea. The discussion with the Minister was organized as part of KIUDA, the KRIHS-IDB Urban Development Academy, to seek better ways to introduce Korea’s urban and housing development experience.

  Minister Yu hoped in his welcoming remarks that Korea’s 60 years of development experience would provide solutions to urban and housing challenges that LAC countries are facing, and Transport and Housing Minister Morais Guy of Jamaica said in reply that this would be a meaningful program to seek further development partnership and collaborative opportunities between LAC countries and Korea. Minister Morais Guy also commented that the program was not only helpful because they could learn Korea’s development history, but also encouraging for them to tackle the challenges they are facing. Mr. Andres Blanco, specialist from the IDB, noted that there are things to learn from new town development in Korea that provided public residence for managing infrastructure and housing challenges. Vice Minister Alejandro Nieto of Mexico said that Korea’s regional development plans and implementation of free economic zone provided policy implications for regional development in Mexico. The discussion ended successfully and Minister Yu once again hoped that KIUDA would be an opportunity for strengthening development partnership between LAC countries and Korea.