Statement by Republic of Korea

Honorable Chair, Distinguished governors, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure to participate in the fortieth session of the Governing Council of IFAD. I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to all the IFAD staff for organizing this important event.

Over the past 15 years, the world has made tremendous progress under the framework of Millennium Development Goals. However, more than 8 million people still suffer from poverty and undernourishment. The majority of the poor in developing countries are smallholders who reside in rural areas.

In response to this grave challenge, the international community came together to seek better approaches to solve the problem. So, After years of discussions, we finally agreed on another development goals that aim to end poverty and hunger by 2030.

Over the course of such global efforts, IFAD has played an important role in providing support and investments to developing countries for economic growth and rural poverty eradication. 

In our continuous efforts to develop rural areas, the year 2017 will be a critical juncture towards the successful implementation of the Tenth Replenishment of IFAD’s Resources (IFAD10).

IFAD10 set several operational priorities to increase the rural poor’s capacity, access to market and financial services, and resilience to the climate change.

To this end, we should invest in fundamentals that enable smallholder farmers to participate in the market efficiently.

In Korea, we are promoting competitiveness of agriculture by investing in policies to turn agriculture into a high-value industry that combines production, processing, and tourism.

Along with IFAD, the Korean government is supporting smallholder farmers in the Pacific Island Countries so that they can take part in the distribution process and earn higher incomes.

Based on Korea’s experiences, we are also supporting projects that would enable smallholder farmers to have access to agricultural technology and price information by utilizing mobile platform with IFAD.

Dear members and colleagues,

The Republic of Korea is also committed to working closely with all Members supporting the Fund to develop refined result measurement approaches aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and make sure our efforts are translated into tangible results that can actually benefit people with a view to eradicating hunger and poverty.

Before ending my speech, I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to President Kanayo Nwanze for his dedicated service since he took office in 2009. Under his strong leadership, IFAD successfully reoriented its direction to focus more on small-scale farming as well as expanding presence in developing countries.

I believe that under a new leadership, the Fund will continue to fight poverty and hunger while reinforcing its position as a leading International Financial Institute (IFI) in the field of agriculture and rural development.

Thank you.