Korea can provide a role model for sustainable growth to other emerging economies, a senior World Bank official said in Seoul on Monday.

Inger Andersen, vice president of World Bank’s sustainable development unit, is seeing ample potential in Korea’s human resources and technological prowess.

“Korea has a lot to offer,” she said in an interview on the sidelines of the Global Green Growth Summit in Seoul. “When I recently traveled in China, Vietnam, and Latin America, I felt the countries were asking themselves ‘As we are getting wealthier, are we going get wealthy by polluting and paying clean-up costs? Or is there a way that we can tunnel through instead of pollution-based growth? I think Korea has some answers for them.” 

A Danish-born development expert with nearly 25 years of experience, Andersen oversees the World Bank’s work in agriculture, the environment, infrastructure, urban and social development.

Korea’s leadership in the global “green” movement shows a commitment that will make the country “different,” she said.

“What I’m seeing in Korea is not just a fashion,” Andersen said. “This is not just a political hot issue that some politician thought of today and tomorrow another one comes and forget.”

“Countries are very hungry to understand how you are using technologies, smart policies, smart infrastructure and the determination to stick with this message.”

As for human resources, emerging markets’ growing influence in line with economic expansion will give birth to more leaders at international institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Andersen noted.

“That’s the conversation that is happening with the World Bank and the IMF,” she went on. “We are no longer living in a unipolar world. Now it’s a multipolar world. Over time, emerging countries will have more influence as they getting wealthier.”

Working with 18 Korean staff members within her department, Andersen is looking to have more young talents from here, she added.

“The Finance Ministry is helping us reaching out to Korean young people. They are smart and understand about poverty, development issues. We’re absolutely determined to increase that number,” Anderson said.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)