Lee wraps up weeklong trip to India, Switzerland

By Lee Chi-dong
ZURICH, Jan. 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak departed for
Seoul Friday after concluding a weeklong tour of India and Switzerland, his first
overseas trip this year, that highlighted his pragmatic "sales diplomacy" in
international relations.

Lee's attendance at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort
of Davos marked his debut on the global stage as leader of the chair country for
this year's G-20 economic summit.
The president used his special address at the Davos Forum Thursday to lay out his
vision for the G-20, now the world's premier negotiating group for international
economic policy cooperation.
He said the November summit in Seoul will be "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."
Among major agenda items at the Seoul session, he added, will be ways to build a
"Global Financial Safety Net" to reduce the risk from sudden capital flows and
efficiently regulate banks and other financial institutions that are deemed "too
big to fail."
He also said Seoul will intensify efforts to "reach out" to non-G-20 members to
make their voices heard.
In an interview with the British public broadcaster BBC, Lee said he is willing
to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il anytime, even within the year, if
appropriate conditions emerge that help ease tensions on the peninsula and
resolve the nuclear crisis.
On Friday, the president, formerly a business CEO himself, had a separate meeting
with a group of more than 40 global business leaders and well-known journalists
in Davos to publicize South Korea's "business-friendly" policy.
In addition, he held a series of summits with his Canadian, Swiss, Spanish,
Jordanian and Israeli counterparts on the sidelines of the Davos Forum.
In his meeting with FIFA President Sepp Blatter earlier this week at the world
football governing body's headquarters in Zurich, Lee sought support for South
Korea's bid to host the 2022 World Cup finals.
During a four-day state visit to India just before arriving in Switzerland, Lee
held a summit with Prime Minister Manmonhan Singh.
The leaders agreed to enhance the two countries' relations to a "strategic
partnership," a diplomatic declaration pointing to an expansion from purely
economic ties to political, defense and cultural relations, as well as the
promotion of greater cooperation in the international community. Their 31-point
joint statement called for far-reaching cooperation between the two emerging
powers.
Lee also laid the groundwork for South Korea to take part in the construction of
nuclear power stations in energy-hungry India. The two sides are expected to
launch government-level talks soon over a pact on the peaceful use of atomic
energy.
He asked the Indian government to help facilitate a long drawn-out project by
POSCO, South Korea's leading steelmaker, to construct a gigantic steel mill
complex in the eastern state of Orissa. The Indian prime minister responded
positively, according to South Korean officials.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)

Delete & Prev | Delete & Next