The following is the gist of a special address President Lee Myung-bak delivered Thursday at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. The speech was titled "Seoul G-20 Summit: Priorities and Challenges."
This time last year, there was much pessimistic commentary on the possibility of an economic slump.
Fortunately, the picture now is somewhat brighter than the worst predictions.
I believe that much of the credit for the better than expected outcome for the world economy should be given to the unprecedented level of policy cooperation among the advanced and emerging countries of the G-20.
The initial resolve shown in the first G-20 Summit in Washington in November 2008 was followed up with swift and bold coordinated policy responses in successive summits in London and Pittsburgh.
It was thanks to such bold action that the world economy pulled out from its free fall and managed to enter a period of stabilization.
I do not doubt that the newfound status of the G-20 as the premier forum for international economic cooperation owes much to its proven accomplishments to date.
As the leader of the country that will chair the G-20 this year, I am keenly aware of the weight of responsibility in taking on such an important role.
It is an enormous privilege to chair the G-20. Together with all Koreans, I await this year's tasks with anticipation. I thank my fellow G-20 leaders for their vote of confidence in Korea's ability to play this pivotal role.
The G-20 this year will continue its efforts to overcome the consequences of the global financial crisis and to redouble its efforts in coordinating policies toward recovery.
In addition, it is time for the G-20 to set the post-crisis agenda, and to build the platform that will ensure the sustained and balanced growth of the world economy in the months and years ahead.
This year, one of the tasks of the G-20 will be to coordinate the transition to a more normal policy stance once the appropriate conditions are in place.
In particular, as chair of the G-20, we will devote our energies to achieving consensus across G-20 member countries for the successful implementation of the Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth, agreed at the Pittsburgh summit last year.
In addition, an important task of the G-20 is to follow up on the initiatives taken at previous summits on reform of financial regulation toward a more resilient global financial system and the reform of international financial institutions such as the IMF and World Bank.
We will need to follow through on the progress achieved to date as well as find solutions for unresolved issues.
As we approach the Seoul summit, we will devote our energies toward reaching agreement on a stronger and more effective early warning and surveillance mechanism at the international level.
The importance of governance and representation has been affirmed by the G-20 leaders in previous summits, and our goal in the November summit will be to translate the principles into concrete actions.
I must not neglect to mention one more important item for the Seoul Summit, which is trade.
Past G-20 summits have played a pivotal role in resisting protectionist pressures, and we need to reaffirm the importance of continuing our stance against protectionism.
In particular, concluding the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) before the end of the year should be given the highest priority.
We should be on our guard against protectionism.
But at the same time, we should be mindful of the side-effects of globalization that feed the antipathy toward greater global integration. We should stand ready to address legitimate concerns.
Looking back, it would be fair to say that the impetus for the reform of the financial system has come from the experience of the advanced countries which was the origin of the recent financial crisis.
Addressing the weaknesses in the existing framework for financial regulation is important for all of us, since the problems in one region have global repercussions. It is important to learn from recent events so as not to repeat our mistakes.
However, we should not forget that there are many pressing policy and reform issues that are of paramount importance to developing countries. We will add these additional issues to the agenda for discussion at the G-20 Seoul Summit in November.
At the Seoul Summit, we will place development issues firmly on the agenda, and work toward finding agreement.
There is a great deal of significance in the fact that Korea is the first country from outside the ranks of the G-8 group of advanced countries to chair the G-20.
I believe that Korea is well-placed to share its experiences and expertise with emerging and developing countries on strategies for development and on policies for successful recovery from financial crises.
In order to achieve balanced and sustainable growth, I believe more is necessary than just achieving balance in a narrowly macroeconomic sense. Such a task should be regarded as being an integral part of the mission of the G-20 in achieving balanced growth for the world economy.
We have seen with the recent financial crisis the potentially devastating impact of sudden reversals of international capital flows on emerging and developing economies.
At the G-20 Summit in November, we will place on the agenda the establishment of what we call a "Global Financial Safety Net" that can put in place a global mechanism for addressing such sudden reversals.
The new arrangement seeks to build on the successful implementation of bilateral arrangements between central banks for dealing with sudden reversals of capital flows, and will be complementary with them.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of ensuring that the fruits of the strong and sustainable growth are shared evenly among all countries, including the poorest.
To this end, the G-20 must redouble its efforts to look beyond its member countries and take on the responsibility of considering a larger constituency of nations.
As part of our consultation process, we will not limit our discussions to the G-20 member countries, but instead will reach out to partners outside the G-20.
As well as these outreach efforts to countries outside the G-20, we will also devote our energies toward giving full scope for the impetus for recovery to come from the private sector business community, taking the baton from the government sector in leading the recovery effort.
Active participation from the business community will reinforce the positive outcome from the official summit itself, and highlight the vitality that can only be provided by the private sector to further enhance the G-20 process as an effective forum for promoting global prosperity.
The world economy has stabilized through the concerted action of governments and is showing signs of recovery.
As part of the efforts to encourage a greater role for the private sector, priority should be given to ways of promoting job creation and investment.
We should find ways to reward the entrepreneurial spirit and allow creativity and initiative to play their part in the creation of jobs and wealth.
We should always bear in mind that the potential long-term sustainable growth of the world economy is determined in large part by such incentives to create jobs and wealth.
The recent financial crisis has reminded us how closely our national economies are integrated in the global economy.
The degree of integration is now such that we saw how events on the other side of the world can impact our daily lives.
By bringing together not only the leading advanced economies but also the major emerging economies, the G-20 has the size and scope to tackle global issues.
The November Summit can be seen as the first major test of this new global forum as it attempts to establish itself as a regular feature of the framework for international economic cooperation. I can promise you that we will put in our best efforts toward the successful conclusion of the G-20 Summit.
In closing, let me reiterate the importance of the longer-term nature of a sustained framework for international economic cooperation.
Although the financial crisis brought us together and forged an effective coordinated crisis response, it is now incumbent on us to translate the momentum we have generated toward establishing a forum that can play a genuine global leadership role for longer term issues.
To this end, we should not lower our guard or allow complacency to dull our sense of mission.
We should not forget the importance of our continued sustained effort in achieving sustainable and balanced growth.