By Kim Jae-kyoung
Some 100 finance and business CEOs from around the world will gather in Seoul to attend the G20 Business Summit, which will start on Nov. 10 for a two-day run at the Sheraton Grand Walkerhill Hotel, one day prior to the beginning of the two-day G20 Seoul Summit.
The large-scale gathering of global CEOs was designed by the Korean government to ensure a more sustainable economic recovery and future growth by having business leaders participate in the G20 process.
At a press conference Thursday, the G20 Business Summit Organizing Committee said that business leaders will discuss four key points — promoting trade activity and investment; stabilizing financial systems; achieving “green growth,” and encouraging corporate social responsibility (CSR). Three roundtable discussions will be followed by direct exchanges between business leaders and G20 political leaders.
“So far, governments and central banks have played a key role in fixing the global financial system and supporting the economic recovery. But without support from the private sector, it is impossible to achieve sustainable and balanced growth,” the committee said.
“Eighty CEOs from G20 member countries and 20 from non-G20 nations will participate in the Seoul Business Summit and exchange views with G20 leaders,” it added. “The Business Summit is a continuous process and hence we are seeking to play a key role in institutionalizing it.”
Among key participants from the financial sector are Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann; HSBC British Holdings Group Chairman Stephen Green; U.K. Standard Chartered CEO Peter Sands; Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit; U.S. Blackstone Group Chairman Stephen Schwarzman; VISA Chairman Joseph Saunders; Japan’s Nomura Holdings CEO Kenichi Watanabe; and China Merchants Bank CEO Ma Weihua.
Many leaders from manufacturing, IT and energy sectors will also join the business summit. They are Luxembourg’s Arcelor Mittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal; Switzerland’s Nestle Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe; U.S. Qualcomm Chairman Paul Jacobs; French energy company Total CEO Christophe de Margerie; Germany’s Bosch Group Chairman Franz Fehrenbach; France’s AREVA CEO Anne Lauvergeon; France’s Alstom Chairman Patrick Kron; France’s Veolia CEO Antoine Frerot; Spain’s Repsol Chairman Antonio Brufau and India’s Infosys Technologies CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan.
CEOs of Denmark’s Vesta Wind Systems CEO Ditlev Engel; Brazil’s Vale CEO Roger Agnelli; Italy’s Eni Chairman Roberto Poli; China’s Li & Fung Group Chairman Victor Fung; Sweden’s SEB/SABB/AB Electrolux Chairman Marcus Wallenberg; Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Company CEO Yaschika Hasegawa and China Southern Power Grid Chairman Zhao Jianguo are among those who have booked their flights to Seoul.
Korea’s SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won will participate in the business summit as chair of the new renewable energy session under the green growth agenda.
The committee said that prior to the summit, the participating business leaders will name deputies to take part in two preliminary meetings in September and October. There they will establish a joint report on 12 major issues, such as ways to promote global trade, investment and job creation.
The report will be formally adopted by the CEOs and then delivered to the G20 leaders at the upcoming Seoul summit, according to the organizing committee.
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