Gist of Lee's speech on G-20 at Davos Forum

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 28 (Yonhap) -- The following is the gist of South Korean
President Lee Myung-bak's special address delivered at the Davos Forum in
Switzerland on Thursday to disclose his vision for the G-20 summit scheduled for
November in Seoul.

-- The South Korean government is actively engaged in the flow of relief in
cooperation with non-governmental agencies to help Haiti, which was recently hit
by an earthquake. Together with other summit colleagues in the G-20, I will work
on support and long-term reconstruction.

-- Much of the credit for the better-than-expected outcome for the world economy
should be given to the unprecedented level of policy cooperation among the
advanced and emerging countries of the G-20. As the leader of the country that
will chair the G-20 this year, I am keenly aware of the weight of responsibility
in taking on such an important role.

-- The G-20 this year will continue its efforts to overcome the consequences of
the global financial crisis and to redouble its efforts in coordinating policies
toward recovery. It is also time for the G-20 to set a post-crisis agenda, and to
build a platform that will ensure the sustained and balanced growth of the world
economy in the months and years ahead.

-- The burden of the policy response so far has fallen on public sector
intervention through unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus plans. As the
global economy gets on its feet again, each G-20 member country will need to
consider carefully how it will implement its exit strategy, taking local economic
conditions into account.

-- As chair of the G-20, we will devote our energies to achieving consensus across
G-20 member countries for the successful implementation of the Framework for
Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth, agreed upon at the Pittsburgh summit last
year.

-- An important task of the G-20 is to follow up on initiatives spearheaded at
previous summits regarding the reform of financial regulation to build a more
resilient global financial system, as well as the reform of international financial
institutions such as the IMF and World Bank.

-- Important issues concerning financial regulation include finding ways to counter
the procyclical nature of the financial system, as well as the problem of
institutions that are "too big to fail" that have received added impetus recently.


-- As we approach the Seoul summit, we will devote our energies toward reaching
agreement on a stronger and more effective early warning and surveillance mechanism
at the international level.

-- The importance of governance and representation have been affirmed by the G-20
leaders in previous summits, and our goal in the November summit will be to
translate the principles into concrete actions.

-- Past G-20 summits have played a pivotal role in resisting protectionist
pressures, and we need to reaffirm the importance of continuing our stance against
protectionism. Concluding the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) before the end of the
year should be given the highest priority.

-- At the November Seoul Summit, we will place development issues firmly on the
agenda, and work toward finding agreement. Korea is well-positioned to share its
experiences and expertise with emerging and developing countries on strategies for
development and on policies for successful recovery from financial crises.

-- For balanced and sustainable growth, I believe more is necessary than just
achieving balance in a narrowly macroeconomic sense. A broader notion of balance is
appropriate, including closing the development gap between advanced and developing
countries.

-- An agenda item at the G-20 Summit in November will be the establishment of what
we call a "Global Financial Safety Net" that can put in place a global mechanism
for addressing sudden reversals of international capital flows related to emerging
and developing economies.

-- As part of our consultation process, we will not limit our discussions to the
G-20 member countries, but instead will reach out to partners outside the G-20. We
will conduct extensive outreach efforts through consultations with the United
Nations and regional bodies.

-- We are currently planning the launch of a business summit in Seoul timed to
coincide with the November G-20 Summit to make recovery come from the private sector
business community after a recovery led by the government's stimulus measures.

-- The November Summit of the G-20 in Seoul can be seen as the first major test of
this new global forum as it attempts to establish itself as a regular feature of the
framework for international economic cooperation.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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