President Lee to meet ruling party lawmakers Thursday

SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak will meet lawmakers from the ruling Grand National Party to discuss key issues like ratification of the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, official sources said Wednesday.

The meeting planned for early Thursday will take place on the eve of Lee's
departure for Washington and South America, a GNP official told Yonhap News
Agency.
Lee is scheduled to depart on Friday for Washington, where he is to meet with
U.S. President George W. Bush and other leaders of the Group of 20 countries to
discuss ways to tackle the worldwide financial crisis. He will then fly to South
America, where he will attend the APEC forum summit in the Peruvian capital of
Lima from Nov. 22-23.
The source then said that the president will likely asked party leaders for
support in pushing for measures vital for economic recovery. These include
parliamentary approval of the FTA signed last year, measures to ease restrictions
on development in and around Seoul, and ways to deal with the current global
financial crisis that is seriously hurting the country.
Lee and key policymakers in his administration have stressed that free trade and
deregulation is vital for national growth.