외교부

Statement by H.E. Cho Tae-yul, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea
Fifth High-level Consultation on G20 Brisbane Summit
6 August 2014, UN Conference Center, Bangkok


Executive Secretary Shamshad Akhtar,
Mr. Daniel Sloper,
Distinguished Representatives of ESCAP member countries,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to address the 5th high-level consultation organized to share the Asia-Pacific perspectives on the upcoming G20 Summit scheduled to be held in November in Brisbane, Australia.

As we all know, in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008, the G20 emerged as the premium forum for international cooperation on global economic issues. But in order for the G20 to exercise effective global leadership, it should strengthen cooperation with non-member countries. This is why Korea, as the host country of the G20 Seoul Summit in 2010, initiated the high-level consultation here in Bangkok to engage with non–G20 countries in the Asia-Pacific region on the issues being addressed by the G20.

I am pleased that these outreach events have continued up until today. I look forward to listening to Mr. Daniel Sloper, Australia's G20 Special Representative, who is going to share with us the host country’s vision for the Brisbane Summit. Today’s event is not aimed at one-way communication from the host country of the Summit. It also provides an excellent opportunity for ESCAP members to share their views on the G20 agenda. I hope that the outcome of today's meeting will be duly reflected in the process leading up to the Brisbane Summit in November.

Global Economy and the G20 Brisbane Summit

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This year’s G20 Summit is going to be held amid continued economic uncertainties around the world. Global economic recovery remains slow and fragile, while concerns are raised over the very low inflation and high levels of public debt in some advanced economies, and geopolitical tension in many parts of the world. We are also faced with the medium and long-term challenge of a jobless growth.

Against this backdrop, Australia has chosen “Stimulating Economic Growth” and “Building Global Economic Resilience” as main themes of this year’s Summit, which I believe is timely and relevant indeed. Over the past months, under the Australian leadership, the G20 countries have been working together to make progress in the areas of economic growth, financial reform, trade, employment, development, energy and so on.

Korea's Perspectives on the G20 Brisbane Summit

Building on the progress made so far, I would like to briefly share with you Korea's perspectives on the agenda for this year’s Summit in Brisbane.

First, we commend the Australian presidency for exercising leadership to draw up a Comprehensive Growth Strategy that aims to raise the growth rate of the G20 countries by more than 2 per cent from the current trajectory over the next five years. This strategy, if successfully implemented, will contribute to spurring global economic growth and creating jobs, which in turn will have a positive spillover effect in non-G20 countries as well.

To achieve this shared objective, carrying out structural reform is especially important. We in Korea have been actively implementing since early this year a Three-year Plan for Economic Innovation to revitalize our economy by carrying out comprehensive structural reforms. And, with this reform drive, we will play an active role in formulating G20's comprehensive growth strategy.

Second, as reaffirmed at the G20 Trade Ministers’ meeting in Sydney last month, trade is a vital engine for economic growth that creates quality jobs. Therefore, it is important that G20 members take measures to promote trade as part of their respective national growth strategies. At the same time, G20 leaders should demonstrate a strong political leadership in Brisbane to fully implement the WTO Bali package, resist protectionism, revitalize Global Value Chains (GVCs), and strengthen the multilateral trading system, among others.

Third, at the Seoul Summit in 2010, G20 leaders agreed to include development in the agenda as a priority item, recognizing that development imbalances are damaging to the sustainability of the global economy as much as current account imbalances. Since then, the Seoul Development Consensus and its Multi-Year Action Plan have served as important guidelines in the G20 efforts to pursue development worldwide. And significant progress is being made in areas such as infrastructure, food security, and human resources development.

This year, the G20 is focusing on concrete action plans in three key areas -- infrastructure investment, tax system improvement, and access to financial services. The tangible outcome in these areas will enhance the growth capacity of developing economies and further narrow the existing development gap.

Recently, Korea concluded an MOU with ILO in the area of human resources development (HRD), as a follow-up on the commitments made at the St. Petersburg Summit last year. More specifically, Korea will be supporting capacity-building projects to create jobs in the pilot communities in Nepal and Mozambique.

Quite often, the G20 has been criticized for merely making policy recommendations in the area of development without taking concrete actions. This MOU presents the first ever case for a G20 country to implement the policy recommendations so that they will be translated into actual benefits of developing countries. We look forward to sharing the progress made on this project with the G20 and ESCAP member countries with a view to moving the G20 development agenda forward.

Finally, we would like to see further progress on other key agenda, such as setting a common G20 goal to increase women’s employment, and implementing the IMF quota and governance reform which was agreed at the Seoul Summit and is essential for global economic resilience.

We also welcome Australia’s initiative in introducing the agenda on global energy architecture to reflect the changing market realities. Korea will support Australia’s efforts to draw up G20 principles on strengthening energy markets by promoting cooperation between developed and emerging economies.


Conclusion

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As chair of the G20 Seoul Summit in 2010, Korea learned firsthand that all stakeholders need to work together to make the summit a success. I can assure you that Korea will continue to work closely with Australia to make the Brisbane Summit an important milestone in the pursuit of a strong, sustainable and balanced global growth.

Thank you. /End/