Lee to meet Israeli leader, Bill Gates in Davos

By Lee Chi-dong
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak
plans to hold a summit with his Israeli counterpart and meet Bill Gates on Friday
before wrapping up his weeklong tour of India and Switzerland, according to his
office, Cheong Wa Dae.

Lee's summit with President Shimon Peres, to be held on the sidelines of the
Davos Forum, will seek ways to boost one-and-one trade and cooperation on
recycling energy as well as other issues of mutual concern and the security
situations in the Middle East, it said.
The South Korean leader will also have a 20-minute meeting with Gates, the
Microsoft co-founder and head of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for
informal discussions on the global economic condition and the potential of South
Korea as one of the world's most wired countries.
Lee will then head back to Seoul later in the day, ending a three-day stay in
Switzerland packed with hectic schedules, including a meeting with FIFA President
Sepp Blatter to solicit his backing for South Korea's bid to host the 2022 World
Cup finals and participation in the annual conference of the World Economic Forum
in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
In a special address for political and business leaders at the forum Thursday,
Lee proposed concrete discussions on how to establish a "Global Financial Safety
Net" for the efficient handling of a sudden liquidity crunch that can often be a
problem for emerging and poorer nations.
He said the issue will be among the agenda items of the G-20 economic summit to
take place in Seoul in November, as he pledged to more actively "reach out" to
countries not taking part in the meeting.
Lee also said the Seoul summit will cover how to efficiently regulate banks and
other financial institutions that are "too big to fail."
During a four-day state visit to India just ahead of his trip to Switzerland, the
president had a summit with Prime Minister Manmonhan Singh.
They agreed to elevate the two countries' relations to a "strategic partnership"
with a view on expanding their economy-focused ties to politics, defense and
culture, as well as promote cooperation on the global stage, a joint statement
read.
Lee also used the summit to lay the groundwork for South Korea's joint project
with energy-stricken India to construct nuclear power stations. The two sides are
expected to launch government-level talks soon over a pact on the peaceful use of
atomic energy.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)

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