The Export-Import Bank of Korea (www.koreaexim.go.kr, Chairman Bang Moon-kyu, "Korea Eximbank") announced November 6 that it has been holding the 25th Asian EXIM Banks Forum on Jeju Island, which is a three day event that runs from November 5 to 7.
The forum, launched in 1996 aiming to boost ties among export credit agencies (ECAs) in Asia, is comprised of ECAs of 11 Asian countries and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which participates as a permanent observer. The 11 countries are Korea, China, Japan, the Philippines, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Turkey and Australia.
The event has been attended by the 11 ECAs and four observers ― the ADB representing Asia, the U.K. Export Finance representing Europe, Export Development Canada representing the Americas, and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development representing the Middle East.
At the forum, participants discussed measures to enhance cooperation in order to overcome uncertainties in the global economy, under the theme, "Revisiting Asian ECAs' role in shifting global economic landscape."
On the first day of the forum, the first High-level Meeting of ECAs from Korea, China and Japan took place, where Korea Eximbank Chairman Bang Moon-kyu, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) Deputy Governor Nobumitsu Hayashi, and Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank) Vice President Sun Ping attended.
The idea of forming this consultative body was proposed by Korea Eximbank to JBIC and China Eximbank as part of follow-up measures to the consensus to strengthen financial cooperation in the region reached by the leaders of the three countries during the 2018 Korea-China-Japan Trilateral Summit in May last year.
As a result, the consultative body was officially launched during the 24th Asian EXIM Banks Forum which was held in Thailand on November 2018.
On the sidelines of this year’s forum, the three parties shared information on current issues related to their infrastructure projects and discussed ways to beef up their cooperation during the High-level Meeting.
Also, the three institutions discussed their continued efforts to increase their joint entry into the infrastructure markets in third countries, strengthen project information exchanges, and expand human exchanges via training programs.
To that end, they agreed to collaborate in developing co-financing projects and set up a committee to regularly review the progress of their activities.
During the plenary session on the second day of the forum, participants agreed to deepen their role in the face of growing economic uncertainty and to strengthen cooperation in diversifying risks among ECAs in the region.
During the session, Korea Eximbank Chairman Bang Moon-kyu said “Given the growing uncertainties, cooperation among the Asian ECAs is now a must, not an option," adding that "By sharing know-how and diversifying risks through cooperation among ECAs of countries such as Korea, China and Japan, we can contribute to our clients' business expansion into overseas infrastructure markets."
Furthermore, Bang highlighted “ECAs of Korea, China and Japan need to contribute to regional cooperation and global economic development by expanding opportunities to jointly participate in large-scale infrastructure projects in third countries such as Africa and the Middle East.”
