Financial safety net to be discussed in Seoul summit: Lee

President Lee Myung-bak formally suggested Sunday that the G-20 leaders start discussions on ways to narrow the development gap among countries and set up a global financial safety net aimed at minimizing the impact on emerging countries from abrupt interruptions in international capital.

Delivering a speech at the final plenary of the G-20 summit in Toronto, Lee said the two issues will be added to the agenda at the next session to be held in Seoul in November.

"The Seoul summit has two main goals," Lee said as he attended the two-day forum in his capacity as chairman of this year's meetings of the world's 20 largest industrialized and emerging countries.

The first is to produce deals on detailed ways of implementing the agreements reached at the four previous summits -- in Washington, London, Pittsburgh and Toronto -- including the creation of the Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth, reform of the financial regulation system and international financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank, as well as lowering trade barriers and cutting subsidies for fossil fuel, Lee said.

The second is to start full-scale discussions on how to foster substantial development in poor countries and establish a global financial safety net, he added.

South Korea, now a member of the OECD club of developed countries, has first-hand experience of economic development. It has made a transition from one that receives aid to one that gives aid. South Korean officials stress the importance of "teaching how to fish rather than simply giving fish."

"A working group has been already launched on development. We will make efforts to produce concrete measures at the Seoul summit," Lee told his G-20 counterparts.

Lee also expressed hope for "big progress" in Seoul in a move to safeguard developing nations against sudden reversals in the flow of global capital as shown in the 2008 global financial crisis.

The president also asked for support for Seoul's plan to organize a business summit on the eve of the G-20 summit slated for Nov. 11-12. More than 100 top global business leaders would take part.

"We want the social responsibility of corporations to be discussed importantly in the business summit," he said.

The G-20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

The five observers are Spain, Ethiopia, the Netherlands, Malawi, representing the African Union, and Vietnam, representing the Association