Lee says hosting G-20 a crucial opportunity
Published: 28 Sep. 2009, 00:56
After returning home on Saturday from his seven-day trip to the United States with encouraging results, President Lee Myung-bak told top aides and ministers that Korea’s selection to host the Group of 20 summit in November 2010 is a crucial opportunity for the nation.
“Korea hosting the G-20 summit is key momentum for the nation’s entry into the status of a developed country. It will not only help Korea stand at the center of diplomacy but also upgrade Korea’s national stature in terms of politics, economy, legal system and civility,” Lee was quoted as saying by Blue House spokesman Lee Dong-kwan in an unofficial meeting with ministers yesterday.
Canada will host the G-20 summit in June next year and Korea will host a second summit in November next year. The third G-20 summit was concluded last Friday as the leaders agreed that the Group of Eight industrialized nations will be replaced by the G-20 - a larger group that includes important developing nations such as Korea, China and India.
The decision implies that the G-20 is supplanting the G-7 and G-8, institutions dominated by rich Western economies. The G-8 will only focus on security and non-economic issues.
Participants of the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh also adopted a 23-page statement pledging future efforts to strengthen the financial system and expedite world economic recovery. They also agreed to develop a transparent and credible process for pulling back their extraordinary fiscal, monetary and financial sector support when time is ripe for a coordinated exit strategy. They met for the third time since the outbreak of the global financial turmoil last September.
“Lee Jun [a Korean independence activist during the Japanese colonial period] wasn’t even allowed to enter the conference room at the Second Hague Peace Conference during the Hague Secret Emissary Affair in 1907. But now we are hosting the G-20 summit,” said Sakong Il, a Lee envoy. He proposed that everyone cheer and they stood, according to a source who was in the plane on the way back home.
It will be the first time in Korean history that this nation would witness such a large-scale gathering of powerful countries - those whose combined gross domestic product accounts for more than 85 percent of the global economy.
While Canada has selected the site for its upcoming meeting - Muskoka, just north of Toronto - Korea has yet to decide. Cities around the country - Incheon, Seoul, Busan and Jeju - are already preparing to offer to host the global convention. Songdo in Incheon has emerged as the strongest candidate since the free economic zone in the port city has long prepared to become an “international city.”
Toward that goal, the district has built skyscrapers, high-end residences and hotels, international schools and a cutting-edge golf course. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific is scheduled to meet in Songdo around May of next year. Although Seoul is considered an optimal venue for an international convention because of its extensive infrastructure, the fact that the city is the capital of South Korea is the key drawback, observers say.
By Seo Ji-eun [[email protected]]
“Korea hosting the G-20 summit is key momentum for the nation’s entry into the status of a developed country. It will not only help Korea stand at the center of diplomacy but also upgrade Korea’s national stature in terms of politics, economy, legal system and civility,” Lee was quoted as saying by Blue House spokesman Lee Dong-kwan in an unofficial meeting with ministers yesterday.
Canada will host the G-20 summit in June next year and Korea will host a second summit in November next year. The third G-20 summit was concluded last Friday as the leaders agreed that the Group of Eight industrialized nations will be replaced by the G-20 - a larger group that includes important developing nations such as Korea, China and India.
The decision implies that the G-20 is supplanting the G-7 and G-8, institutions dominated by rich Western economies. The G-8 will only focus on security and non-economic issues.
Participants of the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh also adopted a 23-page statement pledging future efforts to strengthen the financial system and expedite world economic recovery. They also agreed to develop a transparent and credible process for pulling back their extraordinary fiscal, monetary and financial sector support when time is ripe for a coordinated exit strategy. They met for the third time since the outbreak of the global financial turmoil last September.
“Lee Jun [a Korean independence activist during the Japanese colonial period] wasn’t even allowed to enter the conference room at the Second Hague Peace Conference during the Hague Secret Emissary Affair in 1907. But now we are hosting the G-20 summit,” said Sakong Il, a Lee envoy. He proposed that everyone cheer and they stood, according to a source who was in the plane on the way back home.
It will be the first time in Korean history that this nation would witness such a large-scale gathering of powerful countries - those whose combined gross domestic product accounts for more than 85 percent of the global economy.
While Canada has selected the site for its upcoming meeting - Muskoka, just north of Toronto - Korea has yet to decide. Cities around the country - Incheon, Seoul, Busan and Jeju - are already preparing to offer to host the global convention. Songdo in Incheon has emerged as the strongest candidate since the free economic zone in the port city has long prepared to become an “international city.”
Toward that goal, the district has built skyscrapers, high-end residences and hotels, international schools and a cutting-edge golf course. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific is scheduled to meet in Songdo around May of next year. Although Seoul is considered an optimal venue for an international convention because of its extensive infrastructure, the fact that the city is the capital of South Korea is the key drawback, observers say.
By Seo Ji-eun [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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