By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

BEIJING - President Lee Myung-bak arrived in the Chinese capital Thursday to attend the seventh Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), which will focus on strengthening global cooperation to prevent the financial crisis from spreading further.

During his three-day stay, Lee will hold summits with the leaders of Japan, Vietnam, Denmark, Poland and France on the sidelines of the meeting, according to Cheong Wad Dae.

The leaders of 43 Asian and European member countries will participate in the meeting under the theme of finding win-win solutions to current challenging global issues.
The leaders will engage in four rounds of discussions on ways to overcome the ongoing financial crisis, climate change and energy problems around the globe. Also on the agenda are disaster prevention, food security and closer trade and investment between Asia and Europe, organizers said.

They will adopt a joint statement, the ``Beijing Declaration on Sustainable Development,'' at the end of the meeting.

Host China plans to convene a summit of leaders of ASEAN+3 countries, which include China, Japan, Korea and 10 Southeast Asian countries, on Friday morning for discussions on closer regional cooperation in stabilizing financial markets.

They are expected to discuss the creation of an Asian version of the International Monetary Fund to bail out crisis-hit countries in line with an agreement signed last year between the finance ministers of the 13 countries. The ministers then agreed to raise a minimum capital of $80 billion to create the fund.

During his summit with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, President Lee will stress that stronger cooperation between South Korea, Japan and China is vital to stabilizing Asia's emerging markets.
They will also discuss other issues of mutual concern, such as the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program. Cheong Wa Dae said they won't deal with sensitive matters, such as Japan's repeated claims to Dokdo.

Before leaving Beijing Saturday, Lee will meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss ways to accelerate a free trade deal between South Korea and the European Union.

In an interview with French daily newspaper Le Figaro Saturday, Lee said he wants to conclude the deal by the end of this year. Working group sessions are now underway to narrow differences on automobiles, tariff reduction, rules of origin and non-tariff barriers. France will be president of the European Union until the end of 2008.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr