Seoul should share development lessons, German president says

Feb 9, 2010, 6:16 GMT

Seoul - South Korea should do more to share its experience of economic development, German President Horst Koehler said Tuesday.

The country has shown that is possible to go within two generations from a 'poor and shattered country' to one of the world's richest high technology economies, he said.

Speaking to trade association representatives in Seoul, Koehler called on South Korea to contribute the lessons from its experience to the global fight against poverty.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, of which South Korea has been a member since 1996, would be a suitable forum, he said.

South Korea owed its rapid development in large part to its openness to technological innovation and its focus on education and training, the German president said.

He also praised the role of central state planning in raising the funds to build up the country's infrastructure and economy.

'New rules for global cooperation' are needed to tackle 'poverty reduction, climate change and global trade,' he said.

Koehler, who was head of the International Monetary Fund from 2000 to 2004, condemned international development initiatives that were motivated by the economic interests of the donor nation.

He also stressed that the financial economy should be at the service of the real economy and not the other way around, especially in the light of the recent crisis.

Koehler was to return to Germany Wednesday after a ten-day visit to India and South Korea.

South Korea holds the chair of the G20 for the year 2010. The world's leading 20 economies were scheduled to gather for their annual summit in Seoul on November 11-12.