Honorable ministers of the GMS members, Vice president Lohani of the Asian Development Bank, and distinguished guests,

It is my great honor and privilege to participate in the 17th GMS Ministerial Meeting. On behalf of Korean government, I would like to extend my gratitude to the Cambodian government and the ADB for preparing this well-organized meeting.

Among others, I hope the new GMS Strategic Framework for 2012-2022 will contribute to the regional development of the GMS.

Now emerging nations are exerting growing influence on the global economy. In the G20 Seoul Summit last year, agreement on the IMF quota reform and the G20 development consensus were reached reflecting greater representation of emerging countries. Development cooperation and trade in South countries are forecast to be further facilitated amid slow economic growth in the advanced countries.

Recently, there has been a heated debate over economic integration of Asia. Also, the GMS is drawing attention of the world on the back of high growth potential and investment attractiveness. I hope the GMS's efforts to integrate economy will result in tangible outcomes backed by active cooperation of the ADB.

Korea and the ADB jointly hosted the Mekong Development Forum last September. Under the theme of "Going Green in the GMS with Korea," cooperation measures in the fields of trade, environment, energy, and ICT were proactively discussed.

The forum served as an opportunity to call attention of the Korean government and businesses to the GMS development project. Against this backdrop, with cooperative spirit

demonstrated during the ASEAN+3 initiative and the Korea-ASEAN FTA in mind, the Korean government seeks to work hand in hand with the GMS in the following directions. First of all, Korea will do its utmost in sharing Korea's public private partnership(PPP) model as well as expanding co-financing with ADB through both export credit and Economic Development Cooperation Fund(EDCF). By doing so, we will build infrastructure needed for economic integration of the GMS countries. Along the way, we will also strengthen our technology support for the GMS development project through Knowledge Sharing Program (KSP) and the Korea Trust Fund established at ADB.

Second, Korea will put incessant efforts so that values often neglected during the development process, such as environment, can be kept and respected. As a frontier of green growth, Korea will increase the rate of Green ODA from the current 14% to 30% by 2020. Furthermore, we will focus our support on capacity building of GMS countries for climate change in areas such as renewable energy and water resources management through the $200 million East Asia Climate Change Partnership Fund, thereby creating jobs and preserving environment at the same time. Lastly, we will encourage Korean companies to advance into the GMS market. I believe Korea will be able to share innovative know-hows not only in large-scale infrastructure and plant projects but also in other areas such as fiber industry where Korea has accumulated knowledge and experience for a long time. Having said this, I ask for your keen attention in improving investment climate in the GMS so that more Korean companies make inroads into the market.

I sincerely hope the Mekong Development Project will succeed beyond the ADB's flagship one and develop into a landmark one.

Thank you for listening.