The Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) will provide a $138.44 million Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) to construct eco-friendly, advanced transportation systems, in Bangladesh.
KEXIM Chairman & CEO Yoon Hee-sung inked an agreement on the provision of the loan with Shahriar Kader Siddiky, additional secretary and wing chief of the economic relations division under the Bangladeshi Ministry of Finance, at Songdo Conventia in Incheon on May 4.
As a government funding instrument, EDCF provides concessional loans characterized by long-term repayment periods together with substantially low interest rates to developing countries in a bid to support their industrial development and economic stability and promote economic cooperation between Korea and developing countries.
KEXIM has been commissioned to manage EDCF by the minster of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) since 1987.
KEXIM will provide $77.44 million in an EDCF priority project to purchase eco-friendly compressed natural gas (CNG) buses.
Under the EDCF agreement, $61 million will be offered in a project to modernize railway signal systems at 20 stations on core railway routes in northwestern Bangladeshi.
KEXIM Chairman Yoon said, “The supporting of EDCF projects, corresponding to Bangladeshi’s transportation development plans, has paved the way for Korean companies to enter the Bangladeshi transportation sector.”
KEXIM Discusses Ways of Building Value Chain of Core Resources with Canada
The Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) signed an MOU with Export Development Canada to build the value chain of core resources and boost financial cooperation in the green industry, KEXIM said on April 30.
DEC is a public export credit institution, established with 100 percent contributions by Canada’s federal government in 1944, with the goal of supporting Canadian companies’ exports and overseas projects.
KEXIM Chairman Yoon Hee-sung met with EDC President Mairead Lavery at EDC headquarters in Ottawa on April 28 and inked an MOU to secure the value chain of rare resources used for semiconductors and EVs and ramp up cooperation in clean hydrogen, renewable and carbon emission reduction projects.
Korea and Canada upgraded bilateral diplomatic ties to a strategic partnership during summit talks held last September, and both countries promised to build a cooperative regime in the resources field to secure a stable value chain and expand cooperation in the decarbonization sector.
The signing of the MOU by KEXIM and EDC is designed to take preemptive steps to cope with a probable increase in financing demand in the course of implementing cooperation between the two countries.
In reality, the need of utilizing Canada’s rare resources in the EV battery material sector has increased following the enforcement of the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and Korean companies’ entry to Canada is on the rise.
Canada has also shown an interest in Korea’s hydrogen projects and the introduction of the Korean-type small modular reactor technology.
Following the signing of the deal, KEXIM Chairman Yoon said, “If cooperation between Canada, a country rich with not only core mineral resources for the battery sector and hydrogen energy resources, and Korea armed with top technology in EV and hydrogen utilization sectors is materialized, it is expected to have greater synergetic effects, and KEXIM and EDC will join forces to hoist bilateral economic cooperation.”
Meanwhile, on the same day, KEXIM Chairman Yoon discussed the roles and functions of development financing institutions with CEO Lore Kerr of FinDev Canada, and explored ways of promoting collaboration between the two institutions.
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