South Korean President Lee Myung-bak stressed the importance of continued international cooperation on the post-crisis global economy, saying it is time to take concrete action.
"Now is an important time for the G-20 to put its agreements reached so far into concrete action," Lee said in a special press conference held a week before the opening of a two-day summit in Seoul of the world's 20 major economies.
He said closer international cooperation is necessary so that the world economy can find a path towards strong, sustainable and balanced growth.
Lee, who chair's this year's G-20 session, admitted there is skepticism over the future of the new-found premier forum for global economic cooperation amid the nascent economic recovery, but prospects for it have been brightened by the success of last month's meeting of G-20 finance chiefs in the South Korean city of Gyeongju.