S. Korea attends APEC Finance Ministers' Meeting to discuss financial health, digital assets

South Korea has attended the Finance Ministers' Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in San Francisco this week to discuss ways of cooperation with member nations on the global economy, sustainable finance and digital assets, the finance ministry said Tuesday.

The South Korean delegation led by Deputy Finance Minister Choi Ji-young attended the two-day meeting that began Sunday (US time), where the 21 member nations agreed upon joint efforts to secure growth momentum while ensuring financial soundness, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

The focus of the meeting was also on how to mobilize financial resources to better achieve net-zero goals and to promote the responsible development and use of digital assets, including crypto assets and stablecoins.

During the meeting, Choi explained South Korea's effort to introduce tighter fiscal rules, which call for capping the fiscal deficit to 3 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), and stressed the need for talks on the establishment of standards and norms on digital assets among the member nations.

He also presented the country's growth strategies, as well as its ongoing role in the international community to fight climate change, such as its decision to contribute an additional US$300 million to the Green Climate Fund, according to the ministry.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Choi held one-on-one talks with representatives from Indonesia, Thailand, Peru and other nations on joint infrastructure projects and a wide range of industry issues and asked for their support for South Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in its southeastern port city of Busan.

The finance ministers' meeting took place ahead of the APEC summit, slated for Nov. 15-17, which is expected to bring together representatives from the member economies, including South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Established in 1989, APEC is an inter-governmental framework designed to promote free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The United States last hosted the APEC summit in Hawaii in 2011. (Yonhap)