Host Country Seminar of AIIB’s 2017 Annual Meeting

Title: Host Country Seminar of AIIB’s 2nd Annual Meeting
Date: June 16~18, 2017
Venue: Halla (3F), ICC Jeju
Theme:  1) The Era of 4th Industrial Revolution and Infrastructure
               2) Bridging the Gap in Infrastructure Financing: Role of Banks and Public Funds
               3) Challenges and breakthroughs in promoting new & renewable energy infrastructure in Asia
               4) Partnership in Promoting Infrastructure Investment in Asia

 The 2nd Annual Meeting of AIIB, which was newly established in 2015, was held on June, 16-18 in ICC Jeju in great success. This meeting was held in non-China region, Korea, which emphasizes the importance of Korea’s status in infrastructure development for Asian developing countries in spite of recent diplomatic struggles between Korea and China. The AIIB annual meeting was hosted by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and Host Country Seminar consisting of four sessions was held as one of main programs of this event.

 The Host Country Seminar was planned and organized by 7 organizations such as Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS), Korea Development Institute (KDI), Korea Association for ICT Promotion(KAIT), the Korea Transport Institute(KOTI), the Export-Import Bank of Korea(KEXIM), Korea Investment Corporation, Korea Energy Economics Institute(KEEI). Especially KRIHS co-organized the first session, “The Era of 4th Industrial Revolution and Infrastructure” and managed the whole event. The participants were 77 member countries and 2700 people including the Minister of Finance, the Governor of Central Bank, high level officials, representatives from international organizations, foreign and domestic entrepreneurs, civil society organizations and reporters. This is one of the biggest events held recently and about 250 to 300 people took part in each session of the Host Country Seminar.

 The first session, co-organized by KRIHS and KOTI, included foreign and domestic specialists’ presentation on “The Changes on ICT Infrastructure in the era of 4th Industrial Revolution” and “Land Development including Infrastructure and Smart City in the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution and Transportation Infrastructure Investment” and discussions followed.

 Foreign and domestic experts including the President of KT, Seong-Mok Oh, the Senior Research Fellow of KRIHS, Sang-Keon Lee, the Chief Director of Database Center of Korea Transport Institute(KOTI), Young-Jun Moon and the Vice President of Chinese Association of Automation, Fei-Yue Wang addressed presentations on different topics. Also the Vice President of the Woodrow Wilson Center, Blair A. Ruble, the President of Korea Institute for International Economic Policy(KIEP), Jung-Taik Hyun and the Secretary-General of Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia(TRACECA), Mircea Ciopraga participated in panel discussions.

 Especially, Dr. Sang-Keon Lee, Senior Research Fellow of KRIHS, described national infrastructure development of Korea was implemented by circulation of PIE-Plan, Implementation and Evaluation. He also pointed out that there were some trial and errors made by intuitive information, insufficient information sharing and inaccurate information. Therefore, Dr. Lee insisted that in the era of 4th industrial revolution, planning and policy making should not be based opinion but scientific and analyzed evidence such as Big Data.

 President Jae-In Moon attended this event and highlighted that Korea has a strong will to cooperate with not only Asian countries but the whole world and develop together, in spite of uncertain international circumstances. The number of participants of 2017 Annual Meeting exceeded the number that people expected previously. It is assumed that the passion of Korean citizens to become new hope and a great partner of global community gathered over 2,000 participants. As a host of the 2nd Annual Meeting of AIIB, which is a newly established international organization for infrastructure investment, Korea also has a chance to be renewed at a starting point. It was such a great opportunity for KRIHS to organize the Host Country Seminar successfully playing an important role.
​