About 60 years ago, the Korean War broke out. Since the war, the Republic of Korea’s economy has improved and the status of Korea in the world has also risen. Korea was introduced to the world by hosting the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul and the 2002 World Cup. This year, it was great to host the G20 Seoul Summit 2010.
G20 is the group of the heads of 19 countries plus the European Union. After the 1974 oil shock, 7 major countries including the U.S., Japan, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Canada had a meeting to solve the problem caused by the oil shock. This group dealt with international problems such as aircraft hijacking, refugees, and other political issues as well as economic problems. Since the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the finance ministers of the current G20 countries including Russia, China, India, Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, the Republic of South Africa, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the Republic of Korea and EU (European Union) have had a meeting annually. At first, it was a meeting of finance ministers, but the 2008 U.S. financial crisis led to a meeting of the heads of the G20 nations. After the debut summit in Washington, D.C., in 2008, G20 leaders had meetings in London and Pittsburgh in 2009, and Toronto and Seoul in 2010.
In this summit, the heads of the G20 nations discussed international financial institution reforms, financial sector reforms, and global financial safety nets. Most of all, they obtained excellent results in international financial institution reforms. The main international financial institution is the IMF (International Monetary Fund). This institution has a great influence on the world’s economy. In the reform, G20 nations agreed to a shift in quota shares to developing countries of over 6%. In addition, they agreed to replace two European directors with two rising nations’ directors. This agreement made rising nations more influential in the IMF.
The next main issue was financial sector reforms. This reform is directly related to the birth of the G20. The G20 Summit was formed to solve the economic problems caused by the Lehman Brothers Holdings’ bankruptcy in 2008. Financial sector reform is the system strengthening the regulations about global finance. According to the reform, banks increase the amount of emergency funds for nations’ financial crises.
Third, global financial safety nets were first brought up at the G20 Seoul Summit 2010. The global economy is interconnected and the flow of funds is difficult to predict. For these reasons, global financial safety nets were formed for sudden financial crises. This system helps countries facing financial difficulty. It provides precautionary support funds from the IMF before a severe financial crisis. It can help countries to cope with financial volatility by reserving capital for a sudden crisis.
Furthermore, the G20 nations launched the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) to help low income countries to grow for the equilibrium of the world economy. In addition, the G20 nations dealt with energy, climate change, green growth, and anti-corruption.
The G20 Seoul Summit 2010 brought Korea to the attention of the world again. In this summit many issues were discussed and agreements reached. Unsolved issues will be discussed at the 2011 Summit in France. For more information, visit the Web site http://www.seoulsummit.kr/.
