President’s economic policies earn a nod at G-20

President Moon Jae-in’s economic policies have earned endorsements from other countries in the Group of 20, Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said Saturday in Hamburg, Germany, where the G-20 summit was held.

Kim during a press briefing at the summit said the heads of the G-20 countries expressed support for the Moon government’s economic policies focused on social investment, fair competition and innovative growth.

“The biggest achievement during the G-20 meeting was that the new government was able to garner support from the international society,” Kim said. “Many of the countries that participated [in the G-20 summit] like us have been struggling with low growth, lack of jobs and widening polarization [of wealth].”

On environmental and trade issues, Kim said the Moon government was able to secure practical results.

The finance minister said member countries reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening economic growth and countering potential risk factors in the second half of the year.

While there has been consensus that global economic growth failed to reach expectations in the first half, there are higher expectations for positive growth in the latter half of the year.

The Moon administration stressed the need for free trade to boost economic growth, Kim said, and warned that the spread of protectionism would only result in losing recovery momentum.

“By actively sharing and laying out our opinions with related countries, we were able to reaffirm the G-20’s rejection of protectionism and its support for an international trade system based on standards,” Kim said.

Moon also emphasized the need to aggressively tackle climate change through policy efforts, Kim said, and praised G-20 countries for promising to fulfil the Paris climate agreement even though the United States has decided to pull out.

The finance minister said that with the support of the global community, the Moon government will push on with its economic policies where job creation will play a vital role in improving the nation’s growth.

The G-20 summit was held a week after Moon’s first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Despite their summit together, the United States has once again raised the need to renegotiate the free trade agreement between the two countries that was signed in 2012.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]