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S. Korea likely to be chosen as venue for G20 summit next year: Sakong
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will likely be chosen as the venue for the next G20 economic summit when the leaders of major economies get together later this month to discuss the ongoing global economic crisis, a senior aid to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said Wednesday.
"There is a consensus that South Korea will host the next G20 summit, and the timing will probably be in April next year," said Sakong Il, a special adviser to Lee and head of the presidential preparatory committee for the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.
Sakong, former South Korean finance minister, was speaking to South Korean correspondents in Washington where he met with Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council, Michael Froman, deputy national security adviser, and other U.S. officials ahead of the Pittsburgh summit.
South Korea is the chaircountry of the G20 finance ministers' meeting next year. Sakong noted that Britain, which hosted the G20 summit in London in April, is this year's chaircountry for the G20 finance ministerial meeting.
China has expressed support for South Korea's hosting of the G20 summit, Sakong said of his recent trip to Beijing as a special envoy for President Lee, adding, "I understand Japan does not oppose the idea of our hosting of the summit."
The upcoming meeting is the third of its kind since the outbreak of the worst recession in decades last September.
Sakong said that he did not preclude the possibility of the G20 eventually replacing the G8. "The G8 summit is no longer the appropriate forum to produce solutions for the imbalance in the global economy, the growing trade and budget deficit of the U.S., and the burgeoning trade surplus in some emerging economies."
"The G20 summit has shown the ability to tackle global economic issues, and it is meaningless to discuss global warming and other major economic issues without the participation of China, India and other major emerging economies," he said. "Many think the G20 should become the major forum to discuss global issues."
Sakong, who also heads the Korea International Trade Association, dismissed criticism that the G20 summit has too many member countries to allow a consensus on major global issues, saying the group of 20 countries, which account for 85 percent of global output, has proven itself more effective in implementing major agreements to combat protectionism.
"The global economy appears to have begun bottoming out within 12 months because of the global cooperation through the G20," he said, though he cautioned against premature talk of so-called exit plans for withdrawing expansionary fiscal and eased monetary policies.
"We should not repeat the mistakes made in the Great Depression in the 1930s and in Japan in the 1990s when they employed the exit strategies too early," he said. "I don't see high chances of a double dip recession if coordination continues."
Implementation of any exit plans should be discussed closely among countries, although such plans cannot be implemented simultaneously by countries due to different market conditions, he said. He hoped the Pittsburgh summit could discuss post-crisis measures while reviewing a variety of agreements made at the last summit in April.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
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