Kyungjin Song, Country Representative of the Asia Foundation Korea was invited to the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Economic Forum on January 28-29 in Colombo. The Economic Forum was inaugurated by HE Anura Kumara Dissayanake, President of Sri Lanka.

Dr. Kyungjin Song gave a keynote speech on the economic transformation of Korea from the 1960s to the 1990s as well as the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis and the 2008-09 global financial crisis. She offered a set of lessons to draw from Korea’s failures and successes for developing countries to refer to in formulating their development strategies and policies.

She defined Korea’s economic success as a story of export-oriented industrialization (Going Global!) and human resource development supported by leadership (top political & government), entrepreneurships of the private sector, innovation, institution building, and a favorable international environment. 

Industry-government-academia cooperation paved the way for Korea’s transition to knowledge-based economy, based on which Korea later overcame the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis earlier than expected. 

Throughout her keynote talk, she emphasized the critical importance of investment in education and infrastructure building on top of the right policies and entrepreneurships.

When asked about Sri Lanka’s effort to promote tourism, Dr. Kyungjin Song advised Sri Lanka to devise a catchphrase that captures the essence of the beauty and characteristics of Sri Lanka to present to the world.

After her keynote speech, a panel discussion was held participated by the Asian Development Bank’s country director for Sri Lanka and CEOs of four top enterprises in Sri Lanka. It was moderated by the Chamber’s chief economist. The session was attended by 750 people, including the Korean Ambassador to Sri Lanka and many other diplomats, government officials, businesspeople, academics, journalists, etc.

Taking this opportunity, she also met with a group of young professionals in public policy (YPPP) organized by Centre for a Smart Future headed by a former Asia Foundation’s development fellow. The discussion centered around the Korea-Sri Lanka bilateral relations, Korea’s economic development, political and economic crises in both countries, policy priorities of Sri Lanka, and K-culture.

Dr. Kyungjin Song met with business leaders of Sri Lanka at a luncheon roundtable on Thursday, January 30. She and the business leaders exchanged views on the current state of the Korean and Sri Lankan economy, industrial policy, deregulation, talent promotion, industry-government-academia cooperation mechanism, tax base, Korea’s crisis fighting experience, etc.

She also gave an interview to Economy.lk on Korea’s economic transformation and the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

You can watch the highlights of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) Economic Forum, where Representative Song participated as a keynote speaker, through the YouTube link below:

Highlights from Day 2 of the Sri Lanka Economic Summit - January 29th 2025