A South Korean security worker prepares a batch of new money for release at the central bank in Seoul South Korea relishes bigger world role as G20 chair
26 February 2010
SEOUL: South Korea, seeking a greater world role to match its manufacturing might, will this weekend host its first meeting of the top global economic cooperation forum.
The country rose from the ashes of the Korean War around 60 years ago to become the world's top shipbuilder and fifth largest carmaker.
As this year's chair of the Group of 20 developed and emerging economies, it relishes a new diplomatic stature.
The forum "can become a chance to upgrade our country's status in the international community", Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan said Tuesday.
Deputy finance ministers and deputy central bank governors will meet Saturday and Sunday at Incheon, west of Seoul, in the first of a series of preparatory meetings for this year's G20 summits, in Toronto in June and in Seoul in November.
The ministry said 150 people would attend from G20 members plus bodies including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
It said delegates would discuss efforts to coordinate exit strategies from stimulus policies and to establish a framework for "strong, sustainable and balanced" growth.
Reforms in the governance of international bodies such as the IMF and World Bank - especially adjustments to the quota system - and plans to improve financial regulation will be on the agenda.
Also up for discussion will be a proposed global financial safety net "to mitigate unnecessary foreign exchange reserves accumulation in emerging economies", the ministry said.
Delegates will consider energy subsidies, financial inclusion to help the marginalised and financing climate change counter-measures. No communique or statement will be issued and the meeting is closed to the press.
South Korean officials say the Toronto summit will focus on exit strategies from the crisis, while the Seoul gathering will consider detailed ways to build a more durable and fairer world economy.
Sakong Il, a former finance minister who chairs the summit organising committee, said global economic imbalances were one of the fundamental reasons for the slump.
Rebalancing would depend on strong safety nets to shield economies - especially small and open ones - from volatile capital flows and discourage them from piling up foreign reserves.
Gaps in income and development must also be addressed, Sakong said.
South Korea, a dirt-poor nation living on foreign aid in the 1950s, is now a donor.
Sakong said this experience - and lessons learnt from the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis - meant Korea is well placed to reach out to developing countries.
He noted that the G20 - while accounting for 85 per cent of global GDP - only represents a fraction of the 192 UN member states.
"Unless we reflect the views and concerns of the (other) 172, the G20 will not become a credible global (body)," Sakong told reporters.
Shin Hyun-Song, a senior presidential adviser on the international economy, said development would be a very important part of this year's G20 process.
"Korea can be a bridge between advanced and developing countries... it has no history as an imperialistic power and unlike the US is not part of a global power structure - it has less baggage," Shin told a briefing.
The G20 was recognised at the Pittsburgh summit last September as the world's top economic forum, replacing the G7 club of rich nations.
"We feel a great responsibility for making the November summit another success for the sake of the credibility of the G20 process," Sakong said.
"We have to produce more deliverables, implementable policy measures, rather than just making the summit another feast of rhetoric or a photo session."
SEOUL: South Korea, seeking a greater world role to match its manufacturing might, will this weekend host its first meeting of the top global economic cooperation forum.
The country rose from the ashes of the Korean War around 60 years ago to become the world's top shipbuilder and fifth largest carmaker.
As this year's chair of the Group of 20 developed and emerging economies, it relishes a new diplomatic stature.
The forum "can become a chance to upgrade our country's status in the international community", Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan said Tuesday.
Deputy finance ministers and deputy central bank governors will meet Saturday and Sunday at Incheon, west of Seoul, in the first of a series of preparatory meetings for this year's G20 summits, in Toronto in June and in Seoul in November.
The ministry said 150 people would attend from G20 members plus bodies including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
It said delegates would discuss efforts to coordinate exit strategies from stimulus policies and to establish a framework for "strong, sustainable and balanced" growth.
Reforms in the governance of international bodies such as the IMF and World Bank - especially adjustments to the quota system - and plans to improve financial regulation will be on the agenda.
Also up for discussion will be a proposed global financial safety net "to mitigate unnecessary foreign exchange reserves accumulation in emerging economies", the ministry said.
Delegates will consider energy subsidies, financial inclusion to help the marginalised and financing climate change counter-measures. No communique or statement will be issued and the meeting is closed to the press.
South Korean officials say the Toronto summit will focus on exit strategies from the crisis, while the Seoul gathering will consider detailed ways to build a more durable and fairer world economy.
Sakong Il, a former finance minister who chairs the summit organising committee, said global economic imbalances were one of the fundamental reasons for the slump.
Rebalancing would depend on strong safety nets to shield economies - especially small and open ones - from volatile capital flows and discourage them from piling up foreign reserves.
Gaps in income and development must also be addressed, Sakong said.
South Korea, a dirt-poor nation living on foreign aid in the 1950s, is now a donor.
Sakong said this experience - and lessons learnt from the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis - meant Korea is well placed to reach out to developing countries.
He noted that the G20 - while accounting for 85 per cent of global GDP - only represents a fraction of the 192 UN member states.
"Unless we reflect the views and concerns of the (other) 172, the G20 will not become a credible global (body)," Sakong told reporters.
Shin Hyun-Song, a senior presidential adviser on the international economy, said development would be a very important part of this year's G20 process.
"Korea can be a bridge between advanced and developing countries... it has no history as an imperialistic power and unlike the US is not part of a global power structure - it has less baggage," Shin told a briefing.
The G20 was recognised at the Pittsburgh summit last September as the world's top economic forum, replacing the G7 club of rich nations.
"We feel a great responsibility for making the November summit another success for the sake of the credibility of the G20 process," Sakong said.
"We have to produce more deliverables, implementable policy measures, rather than just making the summit another feast of rhetoric or a photo session."
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