South Korea to represent voices of emerging countries at Seoul summit

By Na Jeong-ju
Korea Times correspondent

TORONTO ― President Lee Myung-bak said Sunday (local time) that Korea will help countries reach an agreement on establishing a global financial safety net at the next Group of 20 Summit, slated for November in Seoul, to prevent the recurrence of a global financial crisis.

Korea will also host a meeting of 100 CEOs from globally renowned companies ahead of the G-20 Summit to discuss ways to boost private investment and the issues of global trade, investment and corporate responsibility.

Lee made the pledges in his closing remarks at the final session of the two-day Toronto summit.

The initiatives are in line with Korea's efforts to represent the voices of emerging and poorer nations on the global stage so that countries, rich or poor, can work together under a shared goal of achieving sustainable, balanced long-term growth, according to Seoul officials.

In the address, titled "Looking Ahead to Seoul," Lee said Korea will add the creation of the financial safety net and addressing growth imbalances between advanced and developing economies to the agenda for the Seoul summit, while trying to move forward agreements made at previous summits on financial reform.

"The Seoul summit has two goals: One is to advance the talks on reforming financial regulations and international financial organizations and help leaders narrow differences on those issues," Lee said.

"The other is to reinforce the status of the G-20 meeting as the premier global forum on economic cooperation. To increase its legitimacy, effectiveness and credibility, we will add the issues of the development gap and creating a financial safety net to the summit agenda."

Lee stressed that many developing countries are suffering from volatility in international fund flows.

"Setting up a global safety net is of grave importance to many developing economies due to the financial volatility," he said.

The Business Summit of corporate CEOs will be held just before the G-20 meeting in Seoul.

The business forum will be a crucial opportunity to reflect opinions from the private sector in charting a policy roadmap on various trade and investment-related issues as well as climate change, Lee said.

"Countries could ride out the global economic crisis thanks to aggressive fiscal spending. From now on, however, the private sector should be allowed to play a bigger role to prop up the economic recovery."