South Korea will host a Group of 20 vice
ministerial meeting early next month to help set agendas for the G-20 summit scheduled for Seoul later this year, the government said Monday.
The gathering of vice finance ministers and deputy central bank chiefs to be held Sept.
4-5 in Gwangju, 330 kilometres south of Seoul, will focus on issues related to enhancing financial regulations, creation of safety nets for international finance and ways to ensure
future economic development, according to the Ministry of Strategy and Finance.
"The gathering marks the first time that high-ranking officials will discuss topics to be
touched on at the Seoul G-20 summit in November," said Shin Je-yoon, a deputy minister for international affairs at the finance ministry, which is organizing the summit.
The official said that, as the chair of the gathering, South Korea will express its views on
the creation of a new international financial safety mechanism to prevent a repeat of the
2008 collapse of the Lehman Brothers, which paralyzed the global market for more than a year.
The safety mechanism is part of the larger so-called Seoul Initiative that Seoul will push
for during the summit that can contribute to sustained economic growth.
In addition to the two-day talks, finance officials from South Korea, Japan and China
will meet separately on Sept. 6 to review outstanding economic issues facing the Northeast Asian neighbours.
The finance ministry, meanwhile, said it plans to arrange a second vice minister-level meeting in Washington in early October, followed by the G-20 finance ministers and central bankers meeting in Gyeongju on the country's southeast coast on Oct.
21, both of which will fine-tune agendas for the summit slated for Nov. 11-12.