Seoul named host city of 2010 G20 summit

SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- Seoul, the capital of South Korea, has been named the
host city of next year's G20 economic summit after a long deliberation that
mostly considered the accommodation capacity of candidate cities, an official in
charge of organizing the summit said Monday.

The decision was reached at the first meeting of the G-20 summit organizing
committee, headed by Sakong Il, a former special adviser for economic affairs to
President Lee Myung-bak.
"The country's hosting of the G-20 summit is a historic event as it will be the
first meeting of the forum after it is permanently established," Sakong told a
press briefing.
The summit of the world's 20 advanced and developing economies was launched late
last year in the face of an unfolding global financial crisis. It was named the
"premier forum" for international economic cooperation at its third meeting held
in Pittsburgh in September.
A number of South Korean cities, including the country's second largest city of
Busan and the southern resort island of Jeju, competed to host the G20 summit to
be held in November as they hoped for a chance to enhance their presence in the
international community.
"We considered a number of aspects, but the most important of them was the
accommodation capacity of the cities," the chief organizer said, noting the
summit will attract about 35 heads of state, government or international
organizations, as well as over 10,000 other participants.
The annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, to be held in the Japanese
city of Yokohama shortly after the G-20 summit in Seoul and considered a
back-to-back meeting by some at the G20 summit, will require an airport that can
accommodate the leaders, he said.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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