2016 KRIHS-IDB Urban Development Academy (KIUDA) kicks off

Date: May 23, Monday at 9:30 AM
Venue: The Westin Chosun Seoul

The Global Development Partnership Center (GDPC) of the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS) hosted an opening ceremony for the invitation program for 12 high ranking government officials from Latin America in the Westin Chosun Seoul on May 23. This program is the second-year program of the three-year ‘KRIHS-IDB Urban Development Academy (KIUDA)’ jointly designed between the KRIHS and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). KIUDA, which means 'foster' or 'raise' in Korean, is intended to build up relationship between Korea and Latin American countries by sharing knowledge on the process of urbanization in Korea and strengthen the potential and capacity for urban development.

Among the 12 participants in the program were the housing minister of Paraguay, the vice minister of planning in Guatemala, the vice minister of interior and public housing in Argentina, the chairman of the presidential committee for housing guarantee in the Dominican Republic and the director of the national housing committee in Mexico.

The president of the KRIHS Dongju Kim delivered an welcoming address during the opening ceremony, underscoring the need to solidify Korea-Latin America partnership. In an opening address, Dr. Andres Blanco at IDB touched on the current state of cities in Latin American countries and challenges, and stressed the significance of sharing what Korea has gone through. On behalf of the government guests, Soledad Nunez, the housing minister of Paraguay extended appreciation to the KRIHS and IDB who organized the program.

Following the opening ceremony, a lecture began with Sungsoo Choi, a senior research fellow at KRIHS who gave a presentation on the process of Korea's economic development and territorial development under the theme of 'the history of urban development and development process in Korea.' Thereafter, Sungil Yim, a senior research fellow at Korea Research Institute for Local Administration, explained Korea's administrative units, as well as collaboration measures between the central government and local governments under the theme of 'the introduction of Korea's government units, public finances and collaborative system between governments.' Wonsup Lee, the head of planning & management division at the KRIHS discussed Korea's five-year planning for economic development and territorial development planning under the theme of 'Korea's regional development policies and implications.'

Afterwards, during the session covering the status quo of individual countries, government officials who represent the five countries spoke about the status quo of each country and the challenges facing the cities in their countries. During the debate presided by Andres Blanco from IDB, in-depth discussions were made about how Latin American countries raise funds for housing construction and who pays for the cost of building infrastructure in the process of urban development, as well as legal basis.

In the coming five days, the KRIHS will hold lectures, filed trips and conferences to share Korea's experiences as to territorial planning and urban and housing land development with Latin American countries and IDB and discuss future collaboration.​