EBRD teams up with Korea Development Institute on knowledge management

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Korea Development Institute (KDI) agreed in London to deepen their collaboration on knowledge management in support of the EBRD’s policy engagement and investments in its countries of operations (CoOs). Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the two parties have pledged to work together to share knowledge and pursue joint research activities on topics of common interest. The document was signed by KDI’s Executive Director, Dr. Koh Youngsun, and the EBRD’s Managing Director, Mattia Romani, at the EBRD’s London Headquarters.

The EBRD, a development bank working in 38 economies across three continents, has recently launched an initiative to share knowledge accumulated in the process of helping market transition. KDI, one of the leading think-tanks in the world, is partnering with the Bank to aggregate this valuable experience and make it accessible to a wide range of stakeholders, from the private sector to policymakers. The government of the Republic of Korea is providing donor funds for this work.

The first subject of such cooperation is public-private partnerships (PPPs), where the EBRD has considerable expertise.

The two organisations have been working together since February on developing a knowledge product on PPPs. The publication, expected to be released by the end of 2018, will include lessons learned from previous PPP experiences from the point of view of policymakers, the financial sector and the private sector. They will also feature PPP case studies from the EBRD region and the Republic of Korea. Knowledge-sharing seminars have already been held at the KDI headquarters in Sejong in March 2018, and at the EBRD’s London Headquarters.

KDI is a governmental think-tank of the Republic of Korea that played a critical role in supporting the country’s rapid social and economic transformation and in disseminating the lessons of its swift economic development through research and policy consultation. It was ranked the number 1 think-tank in Asia and the number 1 think-tank in international development, according to the 2017 Global Go to Think Tank Index Report released on 31 January 2018.

KDI also houses the Public and Private Infrastructure Investment Management Centre (PIMAC) which acts as the Republic of Korea’s PPP centre of excellence. Its preliminary feasibility studies on new public investment projects have resulted in billions of dollars in budget savings for the country’s government and helped promote private investments.

Original source: EBRD
Published on 10 July 2018