By Cho Jin-seo
Key members of South Korea’s 2010 G20 team have criticized France’s leadership in the global forum this year, saying the country is trying to expand the agenda too much for its own benefit.
France says it wants to reform the dollar-based international monetary system at a series of G20 meetings to be held in Paris and Cannes this year through November, but the move may only be a distraction without making progress, said Sakong Il, chairman of the Seoul Summit organization committee.
“Korea will surely help France successfully host the G20 meetings this year. But they would be better not to expand the agenda too much,” Sakong said in a meeting with the press on Friday in Seoul.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that the country would include the issue of international monetary system reform on the G20 agenda, as the dollar-dominated current system does not seem to be working very well in the diversifying global economy, especially after the financial crisis weakened the economy of the United States.
China, now the world’s second largest economy, is also siding with France in that other currencies such as its yuan should take over part of the dollar’s role in international finance and trade.
Sakong, however, remained skeptical.
“The issue of reforming the international key currency cannot be solved in one day. It is an important task, but it is a long-term task,” he said.
Another core member of the G20 team suspects that there could be a political motive behind France’s move _ that the country is probably using the issue just to show that it can challenge American supremacy in global politics.
“The international monetary system reform is a hundred-year-old debate. France may know that it will be difficult to make a big difference this time. But they have nothing to lose even if the G20 fails to deliver a result on this issue. It can just blame the United States and others for the fall, and claim a moral victory,” the official said during the same meeting, on the condition of anonymity.
Before France, Korea hosted last year’s G20 meetings, including a summit in November, where the leaders of 19 nations and the European Union agreed on reform of the IMF and global banking regulations. But the countries failed to reach an agreement on how, or whether it was right to balance surpluses and deficits in international trade.
Sakong’s Seoul summit host team is to be disbanded this February after publishing a white paper on the event. Lee Jong-hwa, a Korea University professor and the newly appointed economic advisor to President Lee Myung-bak, is to serve as Korea’s chief G20 negotiator from this month, assuming the post from Rhee Chang-yong, a former professor of Seoul National University.