Finance minister to attend G20 meeting

Korea’s Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun will leave for the United States this week to attend a Group of 20 (G20) meeting, which will focus on pending global economic and financial issues, officials said Tuesday.
The G20 finance ministers’ meeting will kick off in Washington on Thursday for a two-day run, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. Yoon will leave for the meeting on Wednesday.
The meeting is the second G20 meeting this year among finance ministers following one held in Paris in February. It is mostly aimed at setting the direction for discussions and decisions to be made during G20 summit talks scheduled for November in France, the ministry said.
“The Washington meeting is expected to be a watershed in determining major issues and the direction of discussions for this year’s G20 gatherings ahead of the November summit in Cannes,” the ministry said in a press release.
“With several new global issues emerging in the wake of the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa and the deadly earthquake in Japan, the G20 meeting will also be a chance to test the global coordination ability.”
The two-day meeting will be comprised of five sessions that include discussions on how to attain strong, sustainable and balanced growth; reform the international monetary system; and better cope with fluctuations in commodity prices.
Others include how to pursue reform of financial regulations and deal with issues related to climate change and support for less-developing countries to build financial infrastructure, the ministry said.
The meeting especially offers a chance to further discuss in detail the guidelines for tackling the global trade imbalance, an issue dealt with during the February Paris talks, according to the ministry.
Yoon will have bilateral talks with his counterparts from other G20 member countries, including the United States, France, Japan and Saudi Arabia to exchange views on pending global issues such as surging crude oil prices, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, the Washington meeting will be followed by the spring gathering of the International Monetary Fund on Saturday when global economic situations and pending issues confronting G20 countries will be discussed, the ministry added. (Yonhap News)