(Yonhap Interview) Seoul should bridge rich, poor nations at G-20: Indonesian envoy

By Park Boram
SEOUL, Feb. 17 (Yonhap) -- Speaking for the interests of both rich and poor
nations stands chief among South Korea's challenges in hosting the summit of the
world's 20 largest economies in November, said Wednesday Nicholas Dammen,
Indonesian ambassador to South Korea.
As the first Asian country to host the summit since it was first held in
Washington in 2008, the envoy said he expects South Korea to be able to mediate
between established and emerging economies.
"I think Korea is in the best position to bridge the interests of developing
countries and developed countries," Dammen told Yonhap News Agency in an
exclusive interview.
Taking over from the Group of Eight, the G-20 became the main global economic
council amid criticism that existing international institutions like the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank were unfit to solve global problems
because they failed to represent the balance of world power.
As the member nations represent nearly 85 percent of the world gross domestic
product, the ambassador said, the outcome of the high-profile meeting will have a
great impact on the rest of the world.
Indonesia is included in the G-20, along with Canada, Argentina, Turkey, Britain
and Japan. The envoy said the negotiating countries are charged with the
responsibility to channel the interests of a wider range of communities, and
should not work solely for their own interests.
"We have still more than 170 some countries who are not members of this G-20, so
they are very influential, of course, whatever the G-20's agendas (may be),"
Dammen said.
The ambassador added that his country can help by representing the interests of
other organizations to which it belongs, such as the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Dammen also expects the G-20 summit, now only a fledgling institution, to
eventually evolve into a formal venue for developing and developed countries to
meet and discuss the global economy.
"The G-20 summit is still now an informal summit," and many non-members including
the prime minister of Vietnam and the chairman of ASEAN are also invited to the
summit besides the heads of the 20 countries, Ambassador Dammen said.
He expects the summit will return to the original format, consisting of just the
G-20, once the global crisis is successfully solved.
Asked whether the summit represents a chance to discuss North Korea's nuclear
program, Dammen said that his country would not approve of any such effort.
"The economic and financial issue is too big and urgent for the discussion (and)
there is simply no time to talk about other issues such as political issues", the
envoy said. Indonesia has maintained close relations with North Korea since
setting diplomatic ties in 1964.
But the envoy held out some hope that the leading economies would seek to tackle
climate change when they met in Seoul, after world leaders bungled the issue in
Copenhagen.
"Indonesia wants to maintain the momentum of Copenhagen, and we hope that by this
year we can have more binding commitment on climate change".
pbr@yna.co.kr
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