Seoul to host G20 Business Summit

A two-day meeting of global business leaders will be held in Seoul in November on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, government and business officials said yesterday.

The G20 Seoul Business Summit, which will bring together G20 leaders and 100 global chief executives, will take place on Nov. 10-11 ahead of the G20 summit slated for Nov. 11-12 in the same venue.

The G20 Summit is most likely to be held at COEX, a major business convention center in southern Seoul. Korea was chosen last year as the venue for the summit.

The government and business leaders yesterday launched an organizing committee for the summit designed to seek cooperation with businesses in economic recovery. The committee will be chaired by Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Kyung-hwan, Cho Suck-rai, chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries and Sohn Kyung-shik, chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Oh Young-ho, vice chairman of Korea International Trade Association will head an administration office of the committee, to handle overall works.

The agenda for the business summit cover the four sectors - trade, investment, finance and green growth - and a dialogue with G20 leaders, officials said.



The event will promote the participation of the private sector in the global economic recovery, officials said.

"The summit, which brings leaders around the world and CEOs of international enterprises together will help the private sector to lead the recovery of the world economy and also offer Korea a chance to show its leadership in business," the organizing committee said.

"G20 Business Summit will be as important as the meetings by leaders around the world," Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Kyung-hwan said during a plate hanging ceremony of the committee.

"To fully recover from the (financial) crisis and to achieve sustainable development in the future, the government has to implement emergent measures. The private sector has to play its role actively," he said.

(christory@heraldm.com)



By Cho Chung-un