Korea’s experience to help bridge G20 development gap

This interview is part of articles highlighting Korea’s preparations for the Nov. 11-12 G20 Summit slated for Seoul, marking 80 days before the summit. — ED.

By Kim Jae-kyoung

Despite the Korean government’s efforts to generate meaningful agreements at the G20 Seoul Summit slated for Nov. 11 and 12, many are raising doubts about the outcome of the gathering as they believe that it is impossible to find middle ground on some thorny issues, such as IMF reform, climate change and development issues.

Ranking officials at the Presidential Committee for the G20 Summit agreed that there were difficulties in bridging the gap between advanced and developing countries.

They said that developed countries agreed on the need for change but they become very stubborn when going into the details.

A noted economic and finance expert stressed that Korea should capitalize on its own development experience in order to bridge the perspectives between the two groups of countries and make the first G20 meeting in a non-G7 nation successful.

“The ultimate challenge for the G20 Summit is to show that it is possible to overcome the development gap between the two groups and to mobilize international efforts to do so,” Young Soo-gil, chairman of the Presidential Committee on Green Growth, said in an interview with The Korea Times.

He pointed out that Korea’s own developmental experiences, culminating in a transition from one of the poorest countries 50 years ago to a newly industrialized nation today, demonstrate that the gap is bridgeable.

“By reflecting on its own experiences, Korea can lead international efforts to close this gap, as a bridge country. This would help Korea become a constructive and influential force, a soft power as it were, in the international efforts to solve global problems,” he said.

“Korea’s hosting of the G20 Summit this year offers a unique opportunity to demonstrate to the world that we can make a change by ably brokering meaningful global cooperation to overcome the developmental gaps.

In that regard, Young, who is also head of the National Strategy Institute, said that at the Seoul Summit, Korea should try to reconcile the voices of emerging countries with those of advanced ones rather than try to represent the voices of developing nations.

“I believe that the experiences with the latest global economic crisis demonstrate that the thinking of policymakers from both the emerging countries and the advanced ones about good economic management have been flawed and that there is a need for re-thinking and thought innovation on each side, as well as for renewed efforts for reconciliation of such thoughts between the two,” he said.

“From this perspective, the current global crisis presents a unique opportunity for a new global thinking. We now know that many of the old “international best practices” are no longer valid.There is both a need and an opportunity for new global standards. In this sense Korea should try to introduce humility as well as flexibility into the thinking of all G20 players,” he added.

The former Korean ambassador to the OECD also said that Korea will make “green growth” the main topic in the G20 process. Green growth is selected as one of the four key agenda items for the G20 Seoul Business Summit.

“It is desirable for the G20 countries to agree on taking coordinated structural stimulus actions including those for facilitating green growth in the developing world,” Young said.

“President Lee Myung-bak would be well-placed to provide inspiring leadership toward such an agreement both as host of the Summit and a precursor of green growth,” he added.