SUMMARY
The Development Cooperation Strategy for Balanced Territorial Development in the ASEAN Countries
Yehyun An, Sungsu Lee, Sujeong Ha, Hyunjoo Lee, Minjee Kim, Dochan Bae, Doan Van Minh, Yovi Dzulhijjah Rahmawati
Key words: Balanced Development, Balanced Regional Development, Territorial Development, New Southern Policy, Korea-ASEAN Relations, International Development Cooperation
This study establishes the direction and strategy for development cooperation that contribute to balanced territorial development in the ASEAN countries. This study reviews Korea’s policies regarding ASEAN relations and analyzes the status of and policies on territorial development of the ASEAN countries. By doing so, this study aims to improve the effectiveness of Korea’s cooperation in the ASEAN countries’ development and support the implementation of the Korean government’s policies on ASEAN, including the New Southern Policy.
Chapter 2 considers the necessity of development cooperation for balanced territorial development in the ASEAN countries. Strategic development cooperation is important for Korea, as it is a means of diplomatic and economic cooperation as a middle power country and implementing the win-win principle of the New Southern Policy. Currently, Korea’s development cooperation with the ASEAN countries needs to be improved in terms of content and form by
differentiating the content and form from other donor countries and resolving its fragmentation issue. The ASEAN policy documents showed that it is necessary to respond to the ASEAN countries’ present and future demands related to the unbalanced development issue. Through strategic development cooperation under the theme of balanced territorial development, Korea can help the ASEAN countries reduce the regional gap within each country’s territory and pursue the sustainable development of each nation and region.
Chapter 3 identifies and characterizes the state of the national territory for each ASEAN country, and the type of balanced territorial development of the ASEAN countries is identified to establish an effective strategy for development cooperation. The territorial development characteristics of each country were identified by analyzing the level of urbanization in line with each country’s industrialization and distribution of cities of different sizes. The analysis results showed that there was unbalanced territorial development in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand with urbanization after industrialization, while Cambodia, Myanmar, and the Philippines have a high possibility of experiencing unbalanced territorial development due to industrialization without urbanization. The urbanization in Malaysia and Cambodia is led by the primary cities, and urbanization in Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines is led by mid-sized cities. Small cities with populations of less than 300,000 lead urbanization in Indonesia and Laos. The results of analyzing the location of cities in each country’s territory and regional gap showed that ASEAN countries had a single or bipolar spatial structure where the population is concentrated in large cities, leading to high regional imbalance and regional concentration.
In addition, we looked at the direction of balanced territorial development in each ASEAN country. Most countries include policies to promote balanced regional development explicitly or implicitly in their national-level plans, and
balanced development is on the top of the national agendas in Indonesia and Malaysia. Other countries appear to focus more on regional development than on reducing the regional gap. Finally, the type of balanced territorial development was set based on changes in territorial policies for balanced development in Korea, and the ASEAN countries were grouped by type.
Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar were classified as the national growth center development type. The Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam were classified as the regional growth center development type, while Indonesia and Malaysia were classified as the distributed growth center development type. Based on the characteristics of each type, Chapter 3 presents the policy instruments to be considered first.
Chapter 4 thoroughly identifies the development cooperation demand for balanced territorial development of the ASEAN countries through a case analysis of the country representing each type and draws the implications of development cooperation of each type. Myanmar was chosen as the case analysis for the national growth center development type. Myanmar shows development cooperation demand for the adoption of program-type business for industrial infrastructure, technical assistance related to laws, institutions, and policies, and capacity building. The Myanmar case discusses the implications of development cooperation for the national growth center as follows: ① consider the possibility of conflicts between balanced territorial development and growth center development, ② prepare measures for insufficient laws, institutions, and policies, ③ prepare for unexpected political, economic, and social fluctuations, and ④ identify the demand for specific support and priorities.
Vietnam was the case analysis for the regional growth center development type. Vietnam shows development cooperation demand for sharing Korea’s experience and know-how on balanced territorial development, research on
regional development planning, consulting on financing, and direct investment.
The Vietnam case identifies the implications of development cooperation for the regional growth center as follows: ① make balanced territorial development the national agenda to raise public awareness, ② consider the competitiveness of both the existing centers and new regional centers, and ③ support coordination among regions.
Indonesia was the case analysis for the distributed growth center development type. Indonesia shows development cooperation demand for the establishment of a long-term plan for balanced development, establishment of an integrated mechanism for implementation, and sharing Korea’s experience of capital relocation. The Indonesian case draws the implications of development cooperation for distributed growth centers as follows: ① monitor and deal with the political situation in Indonesia, ② focus on the establishment of a long-term cooperative relationship, and ③ need for continuous discussion among stakeholders and participants from the public and private sectors.
Chapter 5 establishes the direction of implementing cooperation development for balanced territorial development in ASEAN based on the study results and presents the implementation strategies and action items that are in line with the established direction. For establishing the direction, Chapter 5 considered the stance of the international community, Korea’s domestic policies, Korea’s enabling environment for development cooperation, sectoral constraints in the territorial development, and specific issues related to balanced territorial development. The established direction is as follows: ① implementation as a leading paradigm for Korea-ASEAN cooperation in line with the agenda of the international community, ② customization of development cooperation based on the types of balanced territorial development and the levels of cooperation target, and ③ a systematic and mid- to long-term approach to development
cooperation for balanced territorial development.
The implementation strategies identified based on the direction are as follows:
First, it is necessary to present strategies to link SDGs, New Southern Policy, and ASEAN initiatives with the national plan of each country. Second, priority projects need to be presented considering the characteristics of the types of balanced territorial development (national, regional, and distributed growth center development). Finally, the strategies and priority activities need to be presented considering the levels of cooperation targets (regional, national, metropolitan, and local levels).
The action items to establish the implementation system are ① restructure the classification system of development cooperation and adopt balanced territorial development classification as a cross-cutting area and ② institutionalize the procedure of development cooperation for balanced territorial development. The action items for financing are ① allocate and manage the ODA budget for balanced territorial development and ② link balanced territorial development with the ASEAN-Korea Cooperation Fund. The action items to create an enabling environment are ① strengthen the platform for information sharing for territorial development cooperation and ② nurture experts in territorial development in the ASEAN region.
