President Park Geun-hye arrived in Turkey on Saturday to attend an annual summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies.
The summit, scheduled on Nov. 15-16, will be the first leg of a 10-day tour that will also take her to the Philippines and Malaysia for separate high-profile regional summits.
The trip comes on the heels of Park’s recent meeting with leaders of the United States, China and Japan.
Park plans to discuss how to coordinate policies with her counterparts from G-20 countries for inclusive and robust growth, Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea’s presidential office, said.
Park and other world leaders are also expected to review the progress of the growth strategies they laid out at last year’s G-20 summit in Australia.
Last year, the world leaders set the goal to lift their combined gross domestic product by at least an additional 2 percent by 2018.
At the G-20 summit in Australia, South Korea’s economic plan received a top rating from the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The G-20 summit comes amid a global economic slowdown. The world leaders are expected to hold in-depth discussions on major global economic issues, Cheong Wa Dae said, without elaborating.
Park will then fly to Manila for a two-day summit for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which is set to begin Nov. 18.
The APEC forum is set to bring together the top leaders of the organization’s 21 member economies, including the United States, Japan and Australia, which together account for nearly 60 percent of global gross domestic product and almost half of world trade.
Park and other world leaders are expected to exchange opinions on how to build inclusive economies and sustainable and resilient communities, Cheong Wa Dae said.
“Recently, amid growing uncertainty in the global economy, securing sustainable economic development and inclusiveness has become more important than ever, and there will be in-depth discussions on such issues at the upcoming G-20 and APEC summits,”
Park said in a recent joint interview with Yonhap News Agency and other major news agencies in the Asia and Pacific region.
“At the meetings, we will share the results of our policies with other nations and contribute to setting directions and major policies for the global economy.”
Park is also scheduled to fly to Kuala Lumpur, the third and last stop on her tour, for a summit between ASEAN and its three Northeast Asian dialogue partners — South Korea, China and Japan on Nov. 21.
Park plans to focus on securing the foundation for future growth engines by deepening cooperation with ASEAN — which comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.
In Kuala Lumpur, Park also plans to attend the East Asia Summit, an annual forum composed of ASEAN plus eight dialogue partners — South Korea, China, Japan, the U.S, Russia, Australia, India and New Zealand. (Yonhap)
