[Letters] Korea’s G-20 Summit

Leaders at the G-20 Summit last week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, highly praised the efficiency of the G-20 as a collective reliever of the global economic slowdown in the last year and agreed to develop the forum into a permanent one. Since the G-20 has become a high-level discussion table where it decides the global agenda, this means that a new world order and governance has been established.

It is a milestone for Korea to host G-20 summit talks in Korea next year that could signal the beginning of the new global governance. The world has recognized that the country had shown an earnest and sufficient manner in coping with global common issues such as urging leaders to refrain from promoting protective trade and adopting a policy to boost the world market. The Lee Myung-bak administration has been pushing forward with a national strategy, “Global Korea,” which refers to playing a pivotal role and making contributions in the world stage with our status of the 14th economic power in the world. A decision to host the G-20 in Korea is a result of our endeavor to overcome the global economic crisis and robust diplomacy.

However, what matters the most is how we prepare for the forum from now on. The G-20 in Korea is an opportunity and challenge for both the world and Korea. There is a possibility that an inefficiency of the summit could be surfaced due to the diversity of participating countries. It is totally up to Korean government to find effective ways to promote international cooperation among the many countries in order to have the summit as a high-level and stable discussing framework.

Through the G-20 summit in Korea next year, sustainable development of world economy has to be realized with agreements on not only settling climate change and the Doha Development Agenda negotiations but also stabilizing the global financial regime through financial sanctions, an exit strategy and international finance-related organizations reforms. In particular, it is necessary for Korea to reflect the opinions of developing countries and prepare for measures to eradicate poverty in those countries.

Lee Soon-chun, chancellor at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security