International cooperation

International cooperation

ASEAN+3 Summit, Thailand

○ When	April 10-11, 2009
○ Where	Bangkok, Thailand
○ Participants
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam
○ Overview
President Lee Myung-bak visited Thailand from Apr. 10 to 11 to attend the 12th Korea-ASEAN summit, the 12th ASEAN+3 Summit, and the fourth East Asia Summit. At the 12th ASEAN+3 summit, he called for cooperation in implementing macroeconomic policies, putting a curb on trade protectionism, and achieving the Multilateralized Chiang Mai Initiative at an early date. At the East Asia Summit, he elicited regional cooperation to overcome the global financial crisis and to help other countries have a better understanding of the Korean government's "low carbon, green growth" vision.

London G-20 summit

○ When	April 2, 2009
○ Where	London, Great Britain
○ Participants	Great Britain, Japan, Australia, the United States and China
○ Overview
During the second G20 summit of national leaders held in London on Apr. 2, President Lee Myung-bak had summit meetings with Great Britain, Japan, Australia, the United States and China. He discussed global collaboration for economic recovery and responsive measures toward the North Korean missile launch plan with heads of state. President Lee emphasized that the world economy should never go back to trade protectionism under any circumstances and should enlarge fiscal spending to recover from the current unprecedented financial crisis.

Tripartite summit in Fukuoka

○ When	Dec. 13, 2008
○ Where	Fukuoka, Japan
○ Participants	Leaders of Korea, China and Japan
○ Overview
President Lee Myung-bak, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao gathered in the city of Fukuoka on the southern main island of Kyushu on Dec. 13, 2008, to discuss the issue of expanding the currency swap deals of $13 billion to $30 billion with Japan and $4 billion to $30 billion with China. The three leaders also stressed the need to diversify the existing Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI), or the bilateral currency swap between ASEAN+3 countries, and faithful implementation of the agreements made at the G20 financial summit in Washington last month.

APEC economic leaders' meeting in Lima

○ When	Nov. 22 to 23, 2008
○ Where	Lima, Peru
○ Participants
Leaders of the 21 member economies including Korea, China, the United States, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Canada, Australia and Chile
○ Overview
The capital of one of the fastest growing economies in the Americas, Lima, Peru, hosted the 16th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit from Nov. 22 to 23. During the annual event, the leaders of the 21 member economies including Korea, China, the United States, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Canada, Australia and Chile discussed how to address the global financial problem and discuss ways to deal with an economic slowdown in Asian countries. President Lee Myung-bak met his Peruvian counterpart, President Alan Garcia, on Nov. 21 before the APEC summit. The two leaders discussed closer bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy, defense industry, information technology, maritime science and infrastructure construction.

G20 summit in Washington

○ When	Nov. 15, 2008
○ Where	Washington, D.C, the United States
○ Participants
leaders of G20 summit countries (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Korea, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union)
○ Overview
Leaders of the 20 major economies from around the world attended the Group of 20 summit on Nov. 15, 2008, in Washington, D.C. to discuss ways to tackle global economic difficulties through building international cooperation. Invited by U.S. President George W. Bush, Korean President Lee Myung-bak welcomed the opening of the Group of 20 summit and actively participated in the summit talks and called for an overhaul of worldwide financial systems and their regulatory regimes, as well as a greater role for developing countries in overcoming the global crisis and stress the importance of upholding the principle of free market economics and against protectionism, a position also shared by the U.S. leader. President Lee stressed the significance of Korea??s role in the global community in regard to the country??s participation in the Group of 20 financial summit meeting. Along with the United Kingdom and Brazil, Korea has taken on the task of coming up with the content and method of implementing the 47 short and mid-term objectives by March 2009.

ASEM summit

○ When	Oct. 24-25, 2008
○ Where	Beijing, China
○ Participants
45 ASEM member countries (Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mongolia, Myanmar, the Netherlands, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, Vietnam, the ASEAN Secretariat and the European Commission)
○ Overview
Dozens of Asian and European leaders, representing half the global economy, gathered in Beijing to attend the seventh ASEM summit from Oct. 24 to 25, 2008. The 27 EU member states and the European Commission exchanged opinions with Japan, China, India and 13 other Asian countries on the global downturn, climate change and international security. The meeting was considered the first large-scale gathering of heads of state since the last meeting held in Helsinki, Finland two years ago. President Lee Myung-bak held a series of summit talks with leaders of ASEM member countries, including Japan, France, China, Vietnam, Poland and Denmark on a variety of issues ranging from the financial sector to North Korean issues.

The G8 summit in Toyako, 2008

○ When	July 7-9 2008
○ Where	Toyako, Japan
○ Participants
leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, China, Mexico, India, Brazil, president of the European Commission
○ Overview
President Lee Myung-bak visited Japan to attend the annual G8 summit of major advanced economies in Toyako, northern Japan, July 7-9 in 2008. The Group of Eight (G8) refers to the member states or to the annual summit meeting of the heads of the eight industrialized countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States; in addition, the European Union is represented within the G8. In the annual G8 summit held in Toyako, the group expanded to include China, Mexico, India, Brazil and other major economies like Australia, Korea and Spain. On the sidelines of the summit, President Lee held a series of bilateral summit talks with United States President George W. Bush, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and the leaders of India and Mexico. The primary agenda of this year's expanded G8 summit included climate change, oil prices and energy security. At the summit, President Lee introduced the Korean government's campaign to use climate change as an opportunity to foster a low carbon emission society and new economic growth momentum, while stressing the urgency for the world to cope with climate change. Lee stressed the urgent need for international cooperation to cope with climate change. He expressed support for the long-term goal of cutting global greenhouse gas emissions by half by the year 2050.