가. 문제점
○ 세미나 주제 선정 방법에서 양국 간의 논의가 부족하였음. 우리나라가 주도적으로 사 업을 추진함에 따라 라오스 정부 측 주제에 대한 피드백이 원활하지 못한 면이 있었 음. 물론 물리적인 시간의 부족뿐만 아니라 라오스 정부의 적극적인 참여와 지원이 부 족한 면이 있었음.
○ 2015년 비엔티안 정책 세미나와 달리 하루 종일 세미나를 진행함으로써 내용적인 면 에서는 알찼으나, 수도가 아닌 루앙프라방에서 세미나를 개최하다 보니 정부 관련 인 사 초청 및 라오스 정부의 협조를 받는 데 어려움이 있었음.
○ 행사를 연초에 진행하다 보니 절대적인 준비기간이 부족했으며, 라오스 현지 관계자들 의 협조요청에 대한 회신이 지연되는 사례가 빈번하였음.
○ 포럼 언어에 대한 고민이 필요함. 전문적인 한국-라오스어 통역사 부족으로 포럼에서 정확한 의사전달이 지연되는 경우가 빈번하였음.
나. 개선 방안
○ 주제 선정 시 양국 간의 긴밀한 협조 필요
- 주관기관의 일방적인 주제 선정이 아니라 라오스 정부의 요구 등도 적절하게 수용하 여 정할 필요가 있음. 물론 라오스 정부의 적극적인 자세가 전제되어야 하지만 우리 나라도 많은 노력이 요구됨.
○ 사전 기획 및 중요도 증진 필요
- 포럼이 열리기 전에 우리나라 전문가들과 주제 및 내용에 대한 사전 협의를 거친 후 라오스를 방문하여 현지 전문가들과 포럼에 대한 전반적인 내용, 절차 등에 대한 충 분한 논의가 필요함.
○ 참여관중 질 관리
- 행사가 대도시가 아닌 중소도시에서 개최될 경우 포럼에 참석하는 청중들의 질 관리 가 필요함. 교통 인프라 등 여러 여건이 열악한 라오스의 경우 가능하면 정부 및 대학 등이 밀집되어 있는 대도시에서 개최하는 것이 청중의 질 관리를 위해서 바람직함.
제3장 사업의 성과와 문제점 및 개선 방안 29
○ 원활한 회의 진행을 위해 향후 보다 전문화된 현지 동시 통역사를 확보하거나, 영어-현지어 통역 등 여러 가지 옵션의 장단점을 고려하여 회의 공용어를 결정할 필요가 있음.
Summary 31
Summary
1. Background
The 2nd East Asia Knowledge Dialogue 2016 entitled ‘Opening up New Avenues of Cooperation between Korea and Laos’ was held at Luang Prabang View Hotel, Laos on January 15th, 2016. While the 1st Knowledge Dialogue Conference, which was held in 2015, mostly focused on human resource development, the 2nd conference has expanded enough to cover issues of transport and industrial development of Laos. By inviting experts in education, transportation and industrial development, the conference was designed to provide a platform to share Korea’s successful economic development experiences and allow participants to conceive blueprint for the future.
2. Purpose
The National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences (NRCS) has been exerting great efforts to strengthen international networking with South Asian countries. As an extension of the 1st Knowledge Dialogue Conference held in 2015, the 2nd conference was held in Luang Prabang for the purposes of 1) pursuing mutual benefits and common prosperity between Korea and Laos by not only sharing Korea’s economic development experience but also providing policy advice on technical vocational education and training and 2) seeking and identifying possible cooperative measures by discussing on how to overcome economic challenges and how to strengthen policies on human resources, education, transportation and industrial development of Laos.
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3. The Contents of Conference
□ Session 1
Focusing on ‘Economic Development and Human Resource Development,’ Dr. Namchul Lee, who is the director of Center for Global Cooperation at Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training (KRIVET), opened the session 1. He explained how the human resources in Korea has developed in the past decades in accordance with the economic development. In his presentation, he emphasized the importance of human resources development through vocational education and training (TVET), saying that public training centers were established by the government in order to train skilled workers. The government-led human resource development policy was the driving force of economic development.
An Kangjoo Lee, who is senior research fellow at Korea Educational Development Institute (KEDI), gave a presentation on Korean education policy development. Considering for local participants, his presentation places emphasis on how the Korea education policy has developed. Dividing Korean education development history into four periods – establishing cornerstone of national education policy(1948 – 1960); strengthening basis of national economic development(1961 – 1980); generalization of access to university education; lifelong learning period (1998 – present) - he explained Korea education policy development chronologically. Additionally, the presentation was useful in that sharing not only the successful Korean education policy but also challenges that the Korean government was currently facing.
Summary 33
□ Session 1 – Discussion
Question 1) While Korea has strong IT industry, the Lao government has difficulty in developing engineering manpower due to the engineering avoidance phenomenon. How did the Korean government induce talented students to choose the engineering track?(Vixay Chansavang, Vice President of Souphanouvong University)
(Namchul Lee, Director, Center for Global Cooperation, KRIVET)
It is very important to establish strong TVET policy in order to enhance public’s competency for national economic development. It is because competency can be improved through vocational education and training. The university advancement rate of Korea is more than 80%, which is the highest rate in the world. It implies that the high university advancement rate results from the strong TVET policy and this can lead national skills development.
(Kangjoo Lee, Senior Research Fellow, Korea Educational Development Institute) To induce talented students to choose the engineering track for the national development, it will be critical to support them by utilizing scholarship or incentive programs.
(Do Hoon Kim, President, Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade) The education policy should be consistent with national development strategies. For example, the Korean government established technical high schools as they decided to develop the heavy industry. And students were able to dream of working at the heavy industry after their graduation. Having the consistent education policy with the national development strategies, the government should make environment that student envision bright future.
(Armin Hofmann, Program Director, GIZ)
I would like to suggest Laos to have a strategic industry and have a policy which aims at training potential human resources. In that sense, it is required to promote small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) and vitalize in-house training programs like German.
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Question 2) Laos has been receiving more investment from abroad. I would like to discuss how Laos can achieve rapid development as Korea did in the past years.(Bounpheng Vilavongsa, International Cooperation Department of Planning Investment, Luang Prabang)
(Do Hoon Kim, President, Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade) Government tends to put much effort on a certain industry which they want to develop.
However, it is much more important to figure out which industry has demand. Most developing countries often overlooks its importance and that is why they fail to achieve economic development.
For instance, Korea had spent hard time as we had neither money nor natural resources to in 1950s and 1960s. But we started to build industrial foundations by considering selling labor-intensive products, which has high demand in the market. Being involved in the labor-intensive industry, the Korean government started to accumulate capital and know-hows and produce appliances and electronic devices. At that time, as the purchasing power went up high, there was a high demand for electronic devices.
Learning from the Korean experience, it is required for developing countries to develop an industry where has high demand in the market.
(Choongyong Ahn, Chairman, Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership)
A Special Economic Zones(SEZs) in Malaysia can be a good benchmarking example.
Establishing SEZs, government should support foreign investors by creating investment-friendly environment such as free access to land or tax exemption. Those benefits can induce more foreign investors to come into the country. In addition, it is very necessary to have a success story to induce more foreign investors. Especially, it is expected that Asian Economic Community(AEC) will bring great impact and more prosperity in Asian countries. As Indonesia and Myanmar were able to successfully attract foreign direct investment with SEZs, it is necessary for Laos to open the market and utilize foreign direct investment strategically.
(Armin Hofmann, Program Director, GIZ)
Even though Laos is a landlocked country, this geographical condition can be a great strength which enables the country to fuction as a major logistics center in East Asian countries. Therefore, the Lao government can take advantage of the geographical condition as an opportunity.
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□ Session 2
For the following session, Dr. Jin-Soo Moon delivered his presentation focusing on Public and Private Partnership(PPP) in the field of transportation. The best example of transportation infrastructure development is Seoul-Busan expressway. Although many people opposed the expressway development project, the strong leadership had led its construction.
Today, the expressway has been appreciated its role of balancing regional development, contributing to constructional development and cutting down logistical cost.
The other recent example could be a train construction plan named as ‘National Trunk Road Network Master Plan’ which allows people to travel every corner of Korean peninsula. Furthermore, Information and Communications Technology(ICT) integrated bus transportation system would lead operation efficiency, transportational stability and reduction in energy use. In addition to the transportation system development, high speed railroad network and subway system have been constructed. Also, the Port of Busan and Incheon International Airport construction have played a pivotal role to support Korea’s economic development. It was possible to build transportation infrastructure because of foreign country subsidy and loan from international organizations. In order to overcome limitation of government budget, PPP had played an important role in supplementing financial resources. Reflecting Korea’s experiences, he suggested currently ongoing Mekong river development policy and it should be supported by the transportation system combined with ICT, eco-friendly transportation facility and legal institution to operate special account system for transportation infrastructure.
Next presentation was followed by Dr. Jaegon Park from Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade. Dr. Park has shared an experience of Free Trade Zone(FTZ) in Korea.
The FTZ in Korea is based on ‘Export processing zones,’ which offers special incentives and facilities for manufacturing and attract foreign investors. The case of Masan has appreciated as a successful case compared to Iksan. From the case of Masan, Laos would learn that FTZ should be located nearby the city which provides labor and it requires considerate decision for selecting foreign investors. Also, the appropriate incentives and deregulation are necessary. The most important thing is to construct the linkage between domestic companies and foreign firms like what Masan FTZ did. At last, FTZ should be considered as a supplement to creat investment-friendly climate and economic reform.
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□ Session 2 – Discussion
Question 1) In order to achieve the development of Luang Prabang, Korea could be an exemplary case in terms of high entrance rate and rapid economic success. Unlike Korea, the number of students in Laos is small and the quality of education is unsatisfactory. The most urgent problem that Laos currently faces is the shortage of training facility. I would like to suggest us to discuss how to solve this problem. Also, parents tends to send their children abroad for having advanced education opportunities and the unemployment issue has risen due to lack of job opportunities. As a result, a number of Laos people go to abroad as foreign workers in Thailand these days. I would like to share ideas how to prevent brain drain. (Sisavath Miladchai, Director of Culture Division, Provincial Department of Information, Culture and Tourism)
(Armin Hofmann, Program Director, GIZ)
It is true that Laos does not have skilled workers. That is the most urgent problem and it is very necessary to put more efforts on human resource development. Even though it is great to be equipped with good facilities and infrastructure, it is more important to have skilled workers and they should apply their skills into the filed. Small number of students could be a problem, however, it could be the best condition to have good quality of training programs. Considering the current situation that China has been investing huge capital in Laos, indigenous people have to be more actively involved in the national development of Laos. It is only possible when the government has strong human resource development and education policy. Also, when it comes to SEZs system, I think Savannakhet is the best location as SEZs because of proximity to harbors and Thailand. However, the most urgent issue is to create national main industries so that many people can work in the national strategic industries.
(Jaegon Park, Team Leader, Research Center for Regional Development, Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade)
I fully agree with Dr. Armin Hofmann. Laos uses only cheap labor and imports machines. It is more necessary to ensure that local people have quality of skills and know-how in order to achieve further development. To prevent brain drain, the government should have willingness to invest human resource development and build strategic policy. That is the only way.
(Choongyong Ahn, Chairman, Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership)
‘International Youth Skill Olympic’ can be a solution. In the past, a company offered a job opportunity to the Olympic winner. It will be necessary to introduce this system.
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Question 2) Considering transportation infrastructure, Laos has not reached the satisfactory level and paved roads are not enough. I would like to discuss on how to improve the current conditions. (Pasanan Tammabong, Department of Communication, Transport, Post and Construction, Luang Prabang)
(Jinsu Mun, Research Fellow, The Korea Transport Institute)
I suggest that 10% of Laos GDP should be invested in oder to develop transportation system. Government should recognize its importance and its strong willingness is very needed. Furthermore, the most critical issue is the matter of financial resource. To secure the resources, the government should establish taxation policy. After building the transportation infrastructure, the Korean government introduced Special Account for Transportation Infrastructure. One of the examples is ‘Taxation Tax,’ which was introduced in 1994, and it consolidated as Transport, Energy and Environment Tax in 2006. By charging 0.48 USD of tax for 1 liter of gasoline and 0.34 USD for 1 liter of diesel, the government has secured resources for maintaining transport infrastructure.
4. Outcomes and Expectation
The 2nd East Asia Knowledge Dialogue 2016 entitled ‘Opening up New Avenues of Cooperation between Korea and Laos’ has expanded the scope of topic including not only human resources development & education but also transportation & industrial development.
It attracted participants’ attention from different departments and they shared ideas on how to improve economic development in different fields with a holistic approach.
The 2nd conference has three significance. First, it was used as a platform to transfer knowledge on national economic development. This conference provided an opportunity for local policy makers to learn about successful policy examples from Korean experts.
Second, it established a cornerstone of global partnership between two countries. While sharing Korean successful policies in education, transportation and industry field, both countries had time to understand each other. Experts from Korea were able to understand what Laos has wants, on the other hand, Lao policy makers gained knowledge on what should be done to achieve national economic development. It is expected that the deeper mutual understanding will strengthen partnership between two countries and will lead successful Official Development Aids (ODA) projects in the near future.
Lastly, it created a synergy effect of join project by inviting experts from Korea
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Educational Development Institute, the Korea Transport Institute and Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade. The cooperation among four different institutes made it possible to deal with expanded scope of topics.