By Cho Jin-seo
Staff reporter
“Shared Growth Beyond Crisis” has been selected as the official slogan of the G20 Seoul Summit to be held on Nov. 11 and 12.
Sakong Il, chairman of the G20 preparation committee, said Tuesday that the Seoul summit will focus on the balanced growth of developed and developing nations. The G20 will invite representatives from low-income nations as observers to the summit, he said.
“We are trying to embrace non-G20 nations as well,” Sakong said during a news conference in Seoul. “In Seoul, we will produce solutions on economic development and create a global financial safety net. We want to call that a ‘Korean initiative,”’ he said.
The G20 meeting of national leaders was initiated in 2008 in the United States in response to the global financial crisis. Over the past two years, the 19 member nations and the European Union have been discussing ways to improve the financial industry and to stimulate the global economy.
Some believe that the meeting has been losing steam this year as the economy of most nations has recovered from recessions. Domestic politics are also making it hard for member countries to agree on specific reform plans for the financial industry.
Meanwhile, Korea is trying to use the meeting as a chance to raise the issue of economic development in Asia and Africa. Sakong, a former finance minister, is leading the development initiative at the Presidential Committee for the G20 Summit.
The committee said that high-level officials from the G20 nations will meet in Seoul later this week for a pair of working-group meetings. It is the first time for them to meet since the Toronto Summit last month.
“The 100 senior representatives from G20 member countries and international organizations will meet to follow up on the commitments made at the Toronto Summit, and put in place a workable plan to pursue development issues,” the committee said in a statement.
“At the two meetings, delegates are expected to build on previous commitments regarding the global economy, the Framework for Strong Sustainable and Balanced Growth, financial sector reform, reform of international financial institutions (IFI), and trade and energy, as well as to outline plans to carry through on new commitments made in Toronto such as development and the global financial safety set,” it said.
The location of the meetings has not been disclosed.
