G-20 officials to discuss global co-operation in South Korea

I / Seoul May 25, 2010, 14:48 IST

Finance ministers and central bank chiefs of the Group of 20 countries will gather next week in South Korea to examine global efforts to overcome the financial crisis and fine-tune their agendas for upcoming summit talks, officials said today.

The two-day gathering will start on June 4 in the southern port city of Busan with G-20 financial policymakers and representatives from major international organisations in attendance, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance of South Korea said in a press release.

"The meeting is the first minister-level G-20 talks that South Korea will host," the ministry said. "It is mostly intended to prepare for the upcoming summit talks of their leaders to be held in Canada on June 26-27."

Five sessions will be held during the event, which will be primarily focused on assessing the latest global economic conditions, discussing measures aimed at achieving sustainable and balanced growth, and reforming financial regulations in order to stave off a repeat of the global crisis, the ministry said.

As anxiety grows over the possibility that the fiscal debt problem in Europe will spread to the rest of the world, officials are preparing to discuss the fiscal soundness of each nation and global cooperation in pushing for exit strategies from economy-boosting measures, the ministry said.

During the second session on Saturday, the financial policymakers will deal with diverse policy options to be proposed by the IMF, intended to achieve a framework for a strong, sustainable and balanced growth.

The G-20 consists of the G-7 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- plus Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the European Union.