Friday, October 29th, 2004
Good Governance Experts Discuss Asian Challenges Via GDLN
The answers to issues surrounding efforts to reduce corruption in Asia can be found within Asia
Prof. Jin Park (main screen) of the KDI School chairs the conference
On October 29 Professor Jin Park from the Korea Development Institute School of Public Policy and Management chaired an extremely successful GDLN event which facilitated discussion between good governance and anti-corruption experts from South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Washington (World Bank), Japan, China, Mongolia, Philippines, Timor Leste, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Indonesia (ASEAN Secretariat). We estimate that in addition to the active participants in the event about 400 people observed the proceedings.
The three hour session commenced with presentations from Vinay Bhargava (Director, World Bank, Washington), Peter Roberts (Senior Lecturer, Charles Sturt University, Australia), Myoungsoo Kim (Professor, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Korea), and Motoo Noguchi (Professor, United Nations Asia and Far East Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Japan).
A lively set of comments and questions from participating sites followed the opening session. Practicing experts from the Philippines, Mongolia, China, Timor Leste, and Thailand then explained their anti-corruption work. This set the stage for a second round of questions.
The final contribution was made by Dr. Wilfrido Villacorta, Deputy Secretary-General, ASEAN. Dr Villacorta noted that addressing corruption was a priority issue for ASEAN and one that must be tackled within countries to ensure sustained economic growth. Dr. Villacorta also noted the power of GDLN sessions and said that videoconferencing was the communication technology of the 21st century.
The success of the of the sessions was due to three factors:
This session was based on the recognition that the answers to issues surrounding efforts to reduce corruption in Asia can be found within Asia. There is an enormous amount of work being undertaken in Asia with the support of institutions including the World Bank.
Second is the strong teamwork between the KDI School, the TDLC and, in Washington, the Bank's East Asia & Pacific unit, Information Services Group, and the World Bank Institute.
Finally, the event benefited tremendously from the excellent organizational skills of Dr. Park and his KDI team (notably Beodeul Kang) and, during the event, Dr. Park's outstanding chairmanship.
The KDI School and the TDLC have offered to undertake further work on corruption and will work with participants of this event to develop the next phase of activities.
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