S. Korean president welcomes G-20 accord, vows earnest implementation

By Byun Duk-kun
LONDON, April 2 (Yonhap) -- Leaders from the world's 20 major economies Thursday
agreed to resist all forms of protectionism and reform the financial market in
what South Korean President Lee Myung-bak called the "boldest" step ever to help
fight off the global economic and financial crisis.

Lee said the most important task now was to implement the measures as quickly and
as earnestly as possible.
"If this (agreement) is successfully implemented, the world will successfully
overcome the unprecedented crisis facing the 21st century through international
cooperation," the South Korean president said in a press conference at the end of
the G-20 economic summit here.
The one-day summit came to a close after the G-20 leaders issued a joint
statement in which they agreed to a set of sweeping measures to help revive the
world economy, including a US$1.1 trillion program to restore credit in financial
markets and promote growth and jobs.
The leaders also agreed to expand their fiscal spending to $5 trillion by the end
of 2010 to help save or create millions of jobs and raise world economic output
by 4 percent.
"Such a financial and economic crisis is unprecedented in history, but there have
also never been such joint efforts by such a large number of countries," Lee
said.
This, according to Lee, was made possible partly due to Seoul's repeated call for
the world leaders to send a message of hope.
"I made it clear to other world leaders that if we fail to reach an agreement we
will disappoint a large number of workers who have lost their jobs," the
president said.
The G-20 accord also marks a victory for Lee's export-dependent country as it
calls for resistance to any types of trade barriers.
"We will not repeat the historic mistakes of protectionism of previous eras," the
world leaders said in their joint statement, in which they also agreed to set up
an international fund of at least $250 billion to support trade finance.
The statement also calls on international regulators, including the World Trade
Organization, to monitor and publicly report on countries engaged in trade or
finance protectionist measures on a quarterly basis, an anti-protectionist
measure that was proposed and advocated by Lee.
"We cannot overcome such a crisis now facing the world without thorough
coordination of the international community, no matter what kind of measures each
individual country sets up or protectionist measures they take," the South Korean
president said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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