Korea Participates in the Latin American Infrastructure Market

On his state visit to Brazil, President Roh Moo-hyun held a summit meeting with Brazilian President Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva on the afternoon of November 16 (local time) and settled the issue of Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) membership of Korea, a country outside the regional bloc.

Brazilian President Lula expressed his support for Korea’s IDB membership during the day’s meeting. The presidential aide on foreign policy, Cheong Woo-seong, who attended the meeting, said that the IDB membership, which is currently done under electronic vote among members, would be determined on November 20. “If Korea enters the IDB, the nation will be able to make inroads into the $14 billion infrastructure construction market in Latin America, whose orders are placed with the credit from IDB,” Cheong explained.

Leaders of the two nations agreed to launch a joint study on the feasibility of trade agreement between Korea and the South American common market of Mercosur, the world’s fourth largest market. Brazil currently leads the South American common market.

After the meeting, the two leaders announced a 14-point joint statement that included the initiative to upgrade the bilateral relationship from that of the “special partners of the 21st century” since then Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso’s visit to Korea in January 2001 to that of a “comprehensive partnership for joint prosperity in the 21st century.”

President Roh visited Sao Paulo after leaving Brasilia on November 17, afternoon.