Guangzhe Chen says fund bridges Korean expertise with emerging market needs
South Korea can unlock more opportunities for its companies through the Korea Green Growth Trust Fund, a single-donor trust fund financed by Seoul and administered by the World Bank Group, a senior official at the multilateral lender said.
Established within World Bank in 2011, KGGTF is a trust fund dedicated to sharing Korea's green innovation technologies and policy experience with developing countries.
The KGGTF portfolio has supported 260 green growth programs and activities worldwide, amounting to approximately $145.5 million and have helped influence over $35.9 billion in World Bank lending and external co-financing.
"KGGTF plays an important catalytic role," Guangzhe Chen, World Bank vice president for planet, said in an interview with The Korea Herald on Friday. The interview was held on the sidelines of the 15th Korea Green Innovation Days, which took place at the country's administrative capital Sejong.
Unlike World Bank's lending operations, the fund provides grants and technical assistance that help pave the way for larger-scale financing.
"Relatively modest grant resources can help countries strengthen policies and institutions, prepare better projects and unlock much larger flows of investment. In that sense, KGGTF is not only supporting individual activities; it is helping create the conditions for stronger, more scalable development outcomes," Chen said.
He further highlighted that the trust fund can open up new opportunities for Korean entities, including both public institutions and private companies.
"It is also an important channel for bringing Korean knowledge and expertise into World Bank operations in a practical way — through technical exchanges, policy support or partnerships with Korean institutions," he explained.
Events such as Korea Green Innovation Days can serve as a platform for more Korean entities to explore opportunities in developing countries and better understand the needs of World Bank client nations, Chen suggested.
"This is a very good platform of knowledge exchange, but this process is also facilitating — in terms of business opportunities, because you learn about what is needed in some of the countries that we work with that may help facilitate new opportunities," he said.
Chen further stressed the inception of KGGTF shows Korea's willingness to share its growth model with the larger world.
"The Korean government has been very conscious of the fact that it wants to share its own experience with a wider community," he said.
With more than 30 years of international development experience at World Bank Group and Asian Development Bank, Chen was appointed to the planet vice presidency earlier this year. He leads the multilateral lender's work on climate, food systems and agribusiness, environment, forestry and biodiversity, and water security.
silverstar@heraldcorp.com
