The Export-Import Bank of Korea (www.koreaexim.go.kr, Chairman Lee Duk-hoon, “Korea Eximbank”) announced on May 11 that it signed an MOU with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)* on financial cooperation for agricultural development in developing countries on May 8.

* International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1977 as an international financial institution focusing on agricultural development. By providing long-term, low interest loans and subsidies to support the construction of infrastructure in the agricultural communities, it helps set up community organizations and strengthen their capacity, improve storage, distribution networks, farming and fisheries. It has 172 member countries today.

The bank’s Senior Executive Director Shim Seop signed the above mentioned MOU with IFAD Vice President Michel Mordasini at the IFAD headquarters located in Rome, Italy. By signing this MOU, the two institutions will be sharing the knowledge and experiences each has accumulated and are planning to strengthen partnership by identifying candidate projects suitable for co-financing.

In particular, as IFAD, the top international financial institution specializing in agricultural development, agreed to jointly implement the integral rural development model developed by EDCF, it is expected that the project will greatly contribute to poverty reduction in low-income countries.

EDCF’s integral rural development model is an innovative project to create visible results in a short term by building all the necessary infrastructure required for every stage of agricultural activities from production to harvest and sale.

EDCF is planning to promote self-sustaining growth to be led by the rural communities in developing countries by embedding into the project Korea’s New Village Movement that was the driving force behind the development of agricultural communities of Korea in the past. In such an effort, EDCF is to introduce an incentive scheme to boost residents’ voluntary participation in the project and promote goodwill competition. Income created through the project can be mobilized as resources for the agricultural development fund or part of it can be used to repay the loans.

Senior Executive Director Shim Seop also participated in the “Asia Learning Series”forum hosted by IFAD and remarked, “IFAD's decision to take part in EDCF’s rural development project, which is for the first time by an international organization will serve as a turning point for globalizing Korea’s New Village Movement.”