South Korea’s finance minister has promised to step up cooperation with the World Bank in helping improve the lender’s aid-delivery system and sharing its development experience with other poor countries, his office said Thursday.

Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok is visiting Washington to attend a meeting of the group of 20 advanced and emerging countries.

The promise was made during his meeting with World Bank president Jim Yong Kim on Wednesday (local time), according to the Finance Ministry.

The World Bank president, a Korean-born American, asked for South Korea to help replenish the finances of the International Development Association, a branch of the World Bank established to help poor countries. South Korea is a member of the IDA.

In response, Hyun promised to participate in economic growth of less developed countries through “diverse ways,” the ministry said.

Hyun also explained his government’s recent efforts including drawing up an extra budget to stimulate the domestic economy, hoping that such steps would contribute to the recovery of the global economy, according to the ministry.

Meanwhile, Hyun met with Singapore Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and promised to work together in strengthening the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization and other regional safety nets, the ministry said.

The CMIM regime is a money pool formed in 2010 that can be tapped at the times of financial crisis in Asian countries. (Yonhap News)