최빈개도국 개발과제와 한국의 ODA 정책방향 (The Least Developed Countries: Key Challenges and the Way Forward for Korea's Development Cooperation)

Korean Abstract: 글로벌 경제위기 이후 최빈개도국 지원을 위한 국제사회의 정책적 노력이 강화되고 있습니다. 세계 경제체제의 상호의존성 증대로 범세계화가 가속화되고 있지만 최빈개도국의 낙후된 경제구조, 외부충격에 대한 취약성은 여전히 개도국과 선진국의 동반성장을 저해하는 요인으로 작용하고 있기 때문입니다. 그동안 최빈개도국에 대한 한국의 원조규모는 지속적으로 증가해 왔습니다. 그러나 원조효과성 제고를 위해서는 최빈국의 성장기반 확충을 위한 체계적인 지원전략이 마련되어야 합니다. 2010년 한국정부는 OECD/DAC에 가입한 바 있으며, G20 정상회의 의장국으로서 최빈개도국 지원을 위한 다양한 정책방안 수립에 커다란 기여를 한 바 있습니다. 2015년 새천년개발목표 달성을 위해 국제사회의 최빈국 지원이 확대되고 있는 가운데 우리나라도 국제개발협력기본법 및 선진화방안 채택에 따라 OECD/DAC의 원조원칙을 준수하면서 최빈국에 대한 지원확대를 추진해야 한다는 요구가 높아지고 있는 상황입니다. 특히 국제사회는 개발효과성 제고를 위한 포괄적이고 통합적인 지원체제구축에 적극적인 노력을 기울이고 있습니다. 2011년 5월 터키 이스탄불에서 개최된 UN 최빈개도국 회의에서는 2001년 제3차 최빈개도국 회의에서 채택된 브뤼셀 행동계획의 지난 10년간 이행성과를 점검하고 2020년까지의 새로운 추진전략으로서 이스탄불 행동계획을 채택한 바 있습니다. 이에 따라 본 연구는 최빈개도국의 구조적 특징과 개발과제를 분석하고, 국제사회의 지원 현황을 검토하여 최빈개도국에 대한 우리나라의 ODA 정책방향을 제시하고 있습니다. 새로운 국제개발환경에서 한국의 국제적 위상과 역할을 제고하기 위해서는 최빈개도국 지원정책에 대한 보다 체계적이고 종합적인 지원전략이 시급히 수립되어야 합니다. 이러한 문제의식 아래 ODA 지원뿐만 아니라 최빈개도국의 시장접근 확대를 위한 무관세조치, 개발금융 확대와 부채탕감, 기후변화에 대한 적응 지원 등을 중심으로 다양한 개발 이슈를 포함한 종합적이고 체계적인 최빈개도국 지원방안을 분석하는 데 중점을 두었습니다.(후략). English Abstract: The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are the poorest and the most disadvantaged members of the international community that face a broad range of socio-economic, geographical, political and environmental challenges. The United Nations defines LDCs based on three criteria: low gross national income, weak human development indices (ex. nutrition, health, education and adult literacy), and high level of economic vulnerability. Currently forty-eight countries, 33 in Africa, 14 in Asia and the Pacific and 1 in Latin America, are designated as LDCs by the United Nations. With only three countries having graduated from LDC status, the number of LDC countries has leaped from 24 in 1971 when the category was first officially established by the UN General Assembly to 48 in 2012. Amid the growing interdependency in the global economic system the international effort to reverse the trend of socio-economic marginalization of LDCs officially began at the first UN Conference on Least Developed Countries held in Paris in 1981. In the realm of development, the adoption of Millennium Development Goals in 2000 has led to major donors targeting LDCs as their key aid recipient group. Nevertheless, despite global efforts to support LDCs, there has been growing concern over the deepening vulnerability of LDCs as they were stricken by the impact of the global economic recession, food crisis and climate change in the last several years. In this context, this paper attempts to identify main development challenges facing LDCs and provide policy recommendations for South Korea as an emerging donor; to enhance its cooperation with LDCs in terms of aid, trade, debt relief and climate change. The paper begins by reviewing the UN criteria for LDC, defining socio-economic and geographical features of LDCs and also post-recession economic trends. The main challenges and priorities of the LDC group were assessed, with specific focus on limited production capacity and market access, lack of development resources, debt burden, and climate change vulnerability followed by the MDG progress and post-MDG needs. Then it moves on to examine the UN-led international efforts to support LDCs outlined in the Istanbul Program of Action adopted in the fourth UN Conference on the LDCs and suggests actions that should be taken by LDC governments and donors. The DAC donors’ aid to LDCs, their allocation patterns and quality of aid were analyzed along with bilateral and multilateral initiatives targeting LDCs such as the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). The trends and examples of South-South Cooperation and triangular cooperation with LDCs were also presented. Moving beyond aid, the following chapter develops its analysis further on international and Korean support in related areas such as trade facilitation through the Special and Differential Treatments, debt relief and climate change. The paper concludes by suggesting policy measures for the Korean government to improve its support to LDCs through ODA, trade facilitation, debt relief and climate change assistance. Firstly Korea needs to improve the quality of its aid to LDCs by expanding its aid untying ratio to LDCs and HIPCs. It is advised that Korea needs to strength its capacity to actively participate in local and international tender, to expand the use of local procurement systems and to promote co-financing with Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs). Secondly, it is recommended that Korea should extend the level of non-tariff Special and Differential Treatments (SDTs) to LDCs. The importance of the technical and financial cooperation to help LDCs combat effects of climate change is also highlighted. As for aid, Korea needs to reduce the number of priority countries, enhance the selection criteria and use the existing regional cooperation platforms more actively. Finally, in order to improve development effectiveness and policy coherence for development, there should be further efforts to strengthen the whole-of-government approach through policy-level partnership among related ministries in charge of aid, trade, debt and climate change.