“Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I am Kim, Dong Man, vice president of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions. On behalf of one million unionists of FKTU, I would like to extend a warm welcome to participants from all over the world.

I would like to express my appreciation to Mr. Antonio TuJan, co-chairperson of Better Aid, Ms. Emele Duituturaga, co-chairperson of Open Forum, Mr. Chang-shik LEE, co-representative of KoFID, Ms. Hyun-baek Jung, co-representative of KoFID, and Mr. Young-hoon Kim, president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions for your hard work and active role to make this event possible.

Today, we are standing at a critical turning point regarding international development cooperation. We have only four years left before 2015 which is the target year of Millennium Development Goals. At this juncture, Busan Global Civil Society Forum is the best opportunity to pull the strength of civil society organizations all over the world.

From Paris Declaration in 2005 to Accra Agenda for Action in 2008, international civil society organizations, led by International Trade Union Confederation, had spared no effort to make the voice of the civil society heard in discussions on development cooperation. Now, we need to draw up measures to practically contribute to sustainable development and MDGs based on results from the discussions.

Especially, I would like to emphasize that social partnership and dialogue are the most important factors to achieve sustainable development. Social dialogue is essential not only to promote core labor standards and social equity, but also to obtain socio-economic development goals and inclusive democratic ownership.

However, it is regretful that the Korean government, host of Busan HLF-4, does not recognize the important role that the civil society can play in development cooperation. Even though Korea became a member of Development Assistance Committee of OECD in November 2009, its volume of ODA against GDP is one of the smallest among OECD member countries.

I think there are two reasons behind it: First, equal participation of all development actors including the civil society is not guaranteed in the development aid policies. Second, as donor countries use ODA as political and economical means, ODA is made from donor-oriented perspectives.

Under this circumstance, I cannot stress enough importance of Busan Global Civil Society Forum. I hope asks of the civil society including trade unions will be reflected in Busan HLF-4. By doing so, all development actors including emerging economies and the private sector can establish new development partnership.

Once again, I would like to extend a cordial welcome to you and express my special thanks to those of you who have come long distances to Busan. Thank you.”