By Kang Seung-woo
Staff reporter
BUSAN ― The G-20 members need to make concerted efforts to narrow the economic gap between emerging and developing countries, said a senior Korean government official.
At the World Bank-Korea Conference in Busan, Friday, Sakong Il, chairman of the Presidential Committee for the G-20 Summit, said member countries recently agreed not only to include growth-oriented development issues in the Seoul Summit but also to initiate a working group to further outline methods of progress.
"The G-20 leaders in Pittsburgh agreed on implementing the framework for a strong, sustainable and balanced growth of the global economy. Toward this end, the G-20 has been focusing on rebalancing the global economy, particularly with regard to current international macroeconomic imbalances," he said during the conference held on the sidelines of the G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Meeting, which kicked off on Friday for a two-day run.
The gathering was designed to pave the way for the G-20 by setting the key agenda for the summit in Toronto this month. Korea will chair the G-20 Summit in Seoul in November, which is the first time for a country outside of the Group of Seven to host the meeting.
"It is our strong belief that for sustainable global growth the G-20 has to turn its attention to making the world an more egalitarian place. The rationale behind it is simple because it is just not possible for the world to achieve sustainable and balanced growth as long as there is a persistent divide in development."
His speech is in line with Cheong Wa Dae's stance.
"Until the upcoming G-20 Summit in Canada, crisis management will be the main agenda, but after that, Korea is trying to focus on advancing the improvement of emerging economies," Shin Hyun-song, special adviser to President Lee and moderator of the Korean G-20 initiative, told The Korea Times Thursday.
Sakong Il, 70, believes that taking the growth-oriented development agenda to the table will contribute to the group of leading economies gaining recognition at the credible and legitimate prestigious assembly for international economic cooperation.
"The G-20 cannot claim to be the premier economic forum if it fails to take into account the concerns of the 172 non-G-20 members, which are mostly developing nations," he said.
The G-20 has been strongly criticized for its financial regulatory reform, which is in favor of Western powers and rich countries, seen as the epicenter for the global financial crisis.
As a result of the lopsided overhaul, emerging countries have been more sharply affected by financial difficulties.
According to a recent World Bank report, an additional 89 million people are likely to be living in extreme poverty by the end of 2010 due to the crisis.
"Who decides the members of the G-20, and on what grounds?" said Chang Ha-joon, an economics professor at the University of Cambridge.
"There are about 2.7 billion people living in the G-20 nations. That means there are still 3.3 billion people not represented by this G-20 initiative. To truly represent the world, the G-20 leaders should not forget this and should consider the interest of neglected people as well."
South Korea thinks that there is nothing more appropriate than the G-20 putting development on its agenda thanks to its impressive run from poverty to economic heavyweight.
South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy, just turned from an aid recipient to a donor country in the OECD DAC (Development Assistance Committee) in less than half a century.
"Korea is better-positioned than any other OECD member country to bridge the advanced countries on one hand and the developing and emerging economies on the other in the whole G-20 process," Chang said. "We are determined to do our best to carry out the role."
Meanwhile, the conference aimed at narrowing down the topics for the Seoul meeting addressed the following issues: a global economy with multiple growth poles, the development implications of the G-20 Growth and Mutual Assessment Process, the Korean development experience and aid for trade, food security, infrastructure, and innovation, as well as green and inclusive finance.