Seoul Spearheads Efforts for Supporting the G20 Summit

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has recently announced a set of plans to support the Group of 20 (G-20) Summit scheduled for November in the city and launched, in full scale, preparations for the meeting.

To host the Summit is an epoch-making event in Korea's diplomatic history. As chair nation of the group of major economies in the world, Korea will not only set agenda for the meeting but also lead the members in finding solutions to the current global financial crisis.

To make the summit a success, the city government will place an emphasis on providing "comfortable lodging," "convenient transportation" and "perfect security" to visitors. The city estimates about 4,000 of the 10,000-15,000 expected visitors would take short sightseeing tours of Seoul during and around the summit period.

The city government, in particular, will publicize the merits of Seoul as a convention city to visiting delegates and journalists. It wants to make use of the summit meeting in increasing foreign investment in the city.

The city will also fully utilize the "G-20 Business Summit" in inducing foreign investment. The G-20 Business Summit will take place in Seoul on the sideline of the G-20 Summit, with chief executives of the top 20 business firms of the G-20 member nations, attending.

For the convenience of visitors, the metropolitan government will operate electric buses, and build ICT stations and mobile RFID (radio frequency identification) guide systems in the Gangnam area, the venue of the summit talks. Through such activities as riding electric motor vehicles and visiting DMC (Digital Media City), foreigners are expected to experience Seoul, a city where advanced information technology and green technology exist in harmony.

Meanwhile, leaders of the G-20 member countries agreed on regularization of their meeting while they met in Pittsburgh, the United States, in September last year and decided Seoul as venue for the first regular meeting. The G-20 has been developing into a premier forum for international economic cooperation since it was upgraded from a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors to a summit. The group has delivered a number of significant and concrete outcomes in international coordination in financial policies and regulations. In particular, the group has played the role of a major international forum on world economy.

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Seoul Metropolitan Government
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