4 major issues suggested for G20 summit agenda
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South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Monday put forward four major issues for the upcoming G20 Seoul Summit agenda, which is slated on Nov. 11-12.
In a biweekly radio address earlier in the day, Lee said he expects four issues to be the main agendas of the summit, including exchange rate, the establishment of a global financial safety net, the reform of global financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund, and development.
On the exchange rate disputes, Lee said the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors held last month in Gyeongju will help to ensure that the upcoming summit is a success, as the Gyeongju meeting came up with an agreement for "moving towards more market determined exchange rate systems", which can be seen as a positive result achieved thanks to a shared recognition that international cooperation is critical if the word economy, now on the road to recovery, is to have more balanced and sustained growth.
With regard to the global financial safety net, Lee said when his country was hit by the foreign exchange crisis in 1998, some 20,000 companies went bankrupt and more than one million people lost their job. Drawing a lesson from this, the world needs a global financial safety net to prevent crisis in advance through international cooperation.
As for the reform of global financial institutions, Lee said the International Monetary Fund has been operated mainly by advanced countries, However, as the influence of the emerging economics, such as South Korea, China, India and Brazil, are increasing, they now must have a voice in the international stage in proportion to their economic weight and capabilities.
About the development issue, Lee stressed the importance on providing support to the developing countries so as to create a fair international economic order and a fair "global village".
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