South Korea has ample "experiences" in green growth strategies and should take the initiative in global efforts toward promoting economic growth with low pollution and increases in uses of renewable energies, a U.N. official said Thursday.
"South Korea has the most strategic leadership in green growth and economy. The world should benefit from the experiences and lessons it has learned," Sha Zukang, Under-Secretary-General of
the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), said on the sidelines of an international conference in Seoul.
Sha said South Korea can contribute in shoring up international cooperation and partnership to help developing countries benefit from the green growth in the context of "sustainable development
and poverty eradication."
In 2008, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak declared a "low carbon, green growth" vision for Asia's fourth-largest economy.
Last year, the Korean government unveiled a plan that it would spend 2 percent of the country's gross domestic product over the next five years for investments in green technologies, resources and renewable energies.
South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest polluter, also aims to cut its carbon emissions by 30 percent from a 2020 forecast or 4 percent from 2005 levels.
The U.N. official also stressed that it is important to set up an "institutional framework" for sustainable development in order to strike a balance between developing and developed countries.
The UN-DESA has been in talks with the South Korean government during the last two years to build an international center for sustainable development in Incheon, 80 kilometers southwest of Seoul.
The envisioned institution is expected to promote South Korea's knowledge and policies on green growth and sustainable development across the Asia-Pacific region.