(News Focus) S. Korea to host G-20 at critical juncture for country, forum

By Byun Duk-kun
PITTSBURGH, United States, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- The economic summit of the
world's 20 major economies, the G-20, will be on the threshold of becoming a
"premier forum" next year when it comes to South Korea for its fifth gathering on
its way to permanence.
The summit leaders agreed Friday to hold their next conference on the sidelines
of a G-8 meeting in Canada in June, followed by another meeting in South Korea in
November.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak had insisted on the post-crisis leadership
of the G-20 from the very onset of the economic forum that was established late
last year in the face of an unfolding global economic crisis.
"At the fourth G-20 summit, the leaders should seriously consider the
institutionalization of the G-20 process as a means to strengthen global
governance," Lee said earlier this week in an article contributed to the G-20
Research Center at the University of Canada.
Next year's meetings signal a shift, though still nascent, in global leadership
from the G-8 to the G-20, which currently accounts for over 85 percent of the
world's gross domestic product.
"This is a historical development for the world, as it means the G-20 will from
now decide how the world economy will be steered and shaped," said Sakong Il, a
special adviser to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
Behind the move is growing consensus that leadership governed by both developed
and developing nations is more effective than that by only a handful of advanced
countries.
For South Korea, the November meeting will give a significant push to the
country's rise to the leader's podium as the host of what in effect will be the
first institutionalized G-20 session.
The economic summit will gain official permanence from 2011 by becoming an annual
event, and the session in South Korea is where the leaders will set the path.
"The first meeting of 2010 will be held in Canada as announced, but it will be in
November that the countries will begin discussing exit strategies and post-crisis
management of the global economy, the reason why the leaders agreed to
institutionalize the G-20 forum," Sakong told reporters.
With a little over a year left until the November summit, South Korea will
undergo a series of tests as it sets agendas, which are frequently disputed.
With slow yet increasingly visible signs of an economic recovery, world leaders
are beginning to voice a need for an exit strategy while the South Korean
president argues it is still too premature to end stimulus measures.
"This is no time to be complacent. The world faces several new challenges that
will require leadership from the G-20," Lee said in an op-ed he co-authored with
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, which was published in the Sept. 3 edition
of the Financial Times.
Lee named global imbalance and reform of global financial institutions, such as
the International Monetary Fund, as the most urgent tasks at hand while attending
a working dinner for G-20 leaders here Thursday.
"Up until now, the G-8 forum was more words than action as it had especially weak
delivery mechanisms. Joint communiques of the G-20 had specific numbers and this
was because President Lee insisted on specific means to deliver the target
numbers," Sakong said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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