S. Korea, IDB to jointly invest in Latin American smart city projects

SEOUL, Oct. 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has partnered with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to jointly invest in Latin American smart city projects, Seoul's transport ministry said Monday.

The Seoul government signed a memorandum of understanding with the IDB in Seoul to make a joint investment in smart city and infrastructure development projects across Latin America, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

"The Latin America region is a high-potential construction market that requires US$150 billion worth of investments each year in the next 30 years, and the region's public-private partnership construction market is expected to grow to $1 trillion in the next 10 years," a ministry official said over the phone.

Under the initial agreement, the ministry and the IDB plan to select one to two Latin American cities starting in 2020 for which they will draw up a smart city road map, he said.

A smart city is a municipality that uses ICT technologies to increase operational efficiency, share information with the public and improve both the quality of government services and citizen welfare.

The government will initially use a 1.5 trillion-won (US$1.3 billion) fund set up early this year to push forward smart city projects with the IDB in Latin America, the statement said.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
(END)