2010 G-20 Seoul summit

G20 Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy
Summit details
Host country
Date November 11–12, 2010
Venue(s) COEX Convention & Exhibition Center, Seoul, South Korea
Participants G-20 (+ Ethiopia, Malawi, Singapore, Spain, Vietnam), ASEAN, AU, FSB, 3G, ILO, IMF, NEPAD, OECD, UN, WBG, WTO
Follows Toronto summit, 2010
Precedes Cannes summit, 2011
Website seoulsummit.kr

The 2010 G20 Seoul Summit was the fifth meeting of the G-20 heads of government, to discuss the global financial system and the world economy,[1] which took place in Seoul, South Korea on November 11–12, 2010. Korea was the first non-G8 nation to host a G-20 Leaders Summit.[2]

The G20 is the premier forum for discussing, planning and monitoring international economic cooperation.[3]

The theme of the summit was "Shared Growth Beyond Crisis."[4]

Contents

Agenda

The summit leaders addressed several mid- and long-term policy issues,[5] including

Representatives met in advance of the leaders' summit. These sherpas were tasked to draft a closing statement for the summit. The debate over currency exchange rates and imbalances was reported to have been "heated."[8]

Preparations

Main article: 2010 G-20 Seoul summit preparations

The summit logo incorporates two images: (a) the sun rising over the sea; and (b) a traditional Korean lantern (cheongsachorong).[1]

Originally, three new artificial islands built on the Han River between the Banpo and Dongjak bridges were going to be used as the main summit venue.[9] However, delayed construction of the islands led for the main summit venue to relocate to COEX Convention & Exhibition Center.

The Republic of Korea Armed Forces and Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency provided security for the summit venues and the vicinity.

Transportation

Most world leaders and international media arrived via Incheon International Airport and traveled to the summit venue via motorcades along the highway from the airport.

Transportation around the summit venue was upgraded with electric buses to help media and others around the city.

Attendance

The participants of the Seoul summit included the leaders and representatives of core members of the G-20 major economies, which comprises 19 countries and the European Union which is represented by its two governing bodies, the European Council and the European Commission,[10] Representatives from other nations and regional organizations were invited to take part in the summit.

The South Korean government declined to invite the Netherlands, which had been invited to attend all four previous G20 summits. A Korean spokesman said that "a certain region had been over-represented" in the past; and for this Asian summit, Singapore was invited.[11]

This was the first summit at which there were four women among the leaders. In addition to President Kirchner of Argentina, Prime Minister Gillard of Australia, and Chancellor Merkel of Germany, the president-elect of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, accompanied her nation's delegation.[12]

The was the first G20 summit for Australia's Prime Minister Gillard, who was only elected shortly before the Toronto summit.[13] This was also the first opportunity for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore to listen and to make his voice heard at the G20 leaders' meetings.[11]

G-20 members
Host nation and leader are indicated in bold text.
Member Represented by Title
Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner[14] President
Australia Julia Gillard[15] Prime Minister
Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva[16] President
Canada Stephen Harper[17] Prime Minister
China Hu Jintao[18] President
France Nicolas Sarkozy[19] President
Germany Angela Merkel[16] Chancellor
India Manmohan Singh[20] Prime Minister
Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono[21] President
Italy Silvio Berlusconi[16] Prime Minister
Japan Naoto Kan[22] Prime Minister
Mexico Felipe Calderón[23] President
Russia Dmitry Medvedev[24] President
Saudi Arabia Saud bin Faisal bin Abdul Aziz[25] Foreign Minister
South Africa Jacob Zuma[26] President
South Korea Lee Myung-bak[27] President
Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan[16] Prime Minister
United Kingdom David Cameron[28] Prime Minister
United States Barack Obama[29] President
European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso[30] President
European Council Herman Van Rompuy[16] President
Invited states
State[31] Represented by Title
Singapore Lee Hsien Loong[32] Prime Minister
Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero[16] Prime Minister
Vietnam Nguyễn Tấn Dũng[33] Prime Minister
International organisations
Organisation[31] Represented by Title
African Union Bingu wa Mutharika[34] Chairman
ASEAN Surin Pitsuwan[35] Secretary General
Nguyễn Tấn Dũng[33] Chairman
Financial Stability Forum Mario Draghi[36] Chairman
International Labour Organization Juan Somavía[35] Head
International Monetary Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn[37] Managing Director
NEPAD Meles Zenawi[38] Chairman
OECD José Ángel Gurría[39] Secretary-General
United Nations Ban Ki-moon[40] Secretary General
World Bank Group Robert Zoellick[41] President
World Trade Organization Pascal Lamy[42] Director-General

Security

Security for the G-20 summit presented a unique array of problems. In addition to the security of the main venue, COEX, South Korea was more broadly responsible for providing a safe venue for the delegations who come to the summit. The National Police Agency led the security detail for the summit, both at the convention venue and the airport as well. Other police and security agencies involved were:

In preparation, anti-terrorism drills were held by members of the South Korean police, military, special forces and private sector as part of the 2010 Ulchi-Freedom Guardian exercises against simulated hostage situations and chemical, biological and radiological attacks as a preparation for the summit.[43]

Plans for accommodating peaceful protesters were paired with plans for mitigating disruptive demonstrations.

The G-20 raised security concerns unrelated to demonstrators protesting the presence of the leaders of 20 economies in Seoul. For example, some analysts projected that anything perceived as a success for South Korea would be simultaneously construed in Pyongyang as a threat to North Korea.[44]

Despite public endorsements by attending leaders, most commentators looking back on the summit have argued that only limited progress was made, especially on the headline issue of currency war and addressing trade imbalances.[45] [46][47][48][49][50][51] Leaders were generally unable to agree on key issues, with commentators such as economist Eswar Prasad noting the absence of the sense of unity that had been present at summits during the worse of the global financial crisis of 2007 -2009. IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said this particular summit was "more of a G20 debate than a G20 conclusion".[46]

Relating to the need to rebalance the world economy, agreement had been reached to work on indicative guidelines which will set suggested maximum limits for current account surpluses and deficits, though these are not due to be fleshed out until 2011. G20 leaders also agreed to endorse the Seoul Development Consensus , a set of guidelines and principles for working together with less development nations to improve economic growth and reduce poverty. In contrast to the older Washington Consensus which it supersedes, the Seoul Consensus is less free market orientated, allowing a bigger role for state intervention.[52][53]

See also

References

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  3. ^ Parliament (UK): Townsend, Ian. "G20 & the November 2010 Seoul summit" (SN/EP/5028), 19 October 2010, retrieved 2011-04-07; excerpt, "Today, we designated the G-20 as the premier forum for our international economic cooperation" citing "Pittsburgh G20 Leaders’ summit communiqué," ¶50 September 29, 2009, retrieved 2011-04-07; excerpt, "Today, we designated the G-20 as the premier forum for our international economic cooperation. We have asked our representatives to report back at the next meeting with recommendations on how to maximize the effectiveness of our cooperation. We agreed to have a G-20 Summit in Canada in June 2010, and in Korea in November 2010. We expect to meet annually thereafter, and will meet in France in 2011.
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  48. ^ Chris Giles, Alan Beattie and Christian Oliver in Seoul (2010-11-12). "G20 fails to reach deal on imbalances". The Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e65d6a44-ee2e-11df-8b90-00144feab49a.html#axzz154Rga7o2. Retrieved 2010-11-12. 
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  50. ^ Evan ramstad (2010-11-19). "U.S. Gets Rebuffed At Divided Summit". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704865704575610761647291510.html. Retrieved 2010-11-13. 
  51. ^ Mohamed A. El-Erian (2010-11-17). "Three Reasons Global Talks Hit Dead End: Mohamed A. El-Erian". Bloomberg L.P.. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-17/three-reasons-global-talks-hit-dead-end-mohamed-a-el-erian.html. Retrieved 2010-11-19. 
  52. ^ Evan ramstad (2010-11-17). "G-20's Host Pushes Seoul Consensus". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704865704575610612606532370.html. Retrieved 2010-11-13. 
  53. ^ By Christian Oliver, Chris Giles and Alan Beattie in Seoul (2010-11-12). "Forget summit failures, look at G20 record". The Financial Times. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1423f75e-ee61-11df-8b90-00144feab49a,dwp_uuid=60a3db68-b177-11dd-b97a-0000779fd18c.html#axzz15XG6rHkB. Retrieved 2010-11-17. 

External links

Summits of the G-20 leaders