Press Release

Chair of Development Assistance Committee of OECD meets with GGGI to discuss green growth and development priorities.

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From left to right: Brad Philips, Mike Sullivan, Jahan Chowdhury, Imran Ahmad, Robert Dawson, Erik Solheim, Amb. Torbjorn Holthe, Hyoeun Jenny Kim, and Erlend Haugen

SEOUL – November 6, 2014 – A delegation led by Erik Solheim, Chair of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD-DAC), visited the GGGI headquarters in Seoul today to discuss GGGI’s strategy and goals as well as green growth development priorities in general.  The delegation also included Torjborn Holthe, Norwegian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea and Erlend Haugen, Communications Advisor to the DAC Chair.

The GGGI team, led by Deputy Director-General Robert Dawson, presented the organization’s newly proposed strategy, including its primary focus on assisting least-developed countries with greening their economies.

Mr. Solheim re-confirmed his support for GGGI and urged the organization to continue to produce scalable success stories of its work in order to demonstrate to the development community and the world the practical economic and ecological progress green growth policies can achieve. He also spoke more broadly of how targeted development assistance can be effective in low-income countries.

“Successful development assistance is about the right policies and the right political choices,” said Mr. Solheim. “GGGI is a key to promoting best practices and best advice on the goals of promoting rapid economic development in an environmentally friendly and sustainably way.”

Mr. Solheim also spoke of the importance of the role of the private sector in economic development, and that development assistance needs to be increasingly devised in such a way that elicits private investment. As examples, he cited how tax incentives are not nearly as effective in encouraging investment as solid legal frameworks, something often lacking in developing countries.  In this way, GGGI and other international organizations can best serve developing countries by supporting the strengthening of legal and policy frameworks, Mr. Solheim said.

GGGI received Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligibility status by OECD-DAC in 2013, which in practice increases GGGI’s ability to assist developing countries with designing and implementing green growth policies and programs.

“As we redouble our efforts in least-developed countries, we view our ODA eligibility and relationship with OECD-DAC as essential components in helping implement successful green growth programs in our partner countries,” said Mr. Dawson.

GGGI will hold meetings of its Assembly and Council on November 18 where it will submit its new strategy for approval. It will also host an international conference titled The Nexus between Creative Economy and Green Growth in Songdo, Republic of Korea.