G-20 Summit: Manmohan Singh holds bilateral with Mexican President, British PM
Seoul: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh held bilateral meetings with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, and British Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of the commencement of the G-20 Summit here today. Economic experts in India have
speculated that after focusing on global recovery in the last G-20 Summit at Toronto,
New Delhi's main agenda at Seoul would include counter-protectionist measures and
consolidating growth of the global economy by reducing imbalances in currency
valuation. The members of the G-20 hope the fifth edition of the summit titled
"Shared Growth Beyond the Crisis" would mark the beginning of a new era of global
cooperation. What is most anticipated from this fifth edition of the Summit, is a set of
tough new rules on bank regulation known as Basel III, that's part of efforts to
prevent a repeat of the global financial crisis. Even as the G-20 summit officially
kicked off with a working dinner in the evening here, dozens of bilateral meetings
were held during the day. Here, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak welcomed
the delegates along with First Lady Kim Yoon-ok. Behind the scenes, there has been
disagreement on the summit's closing statement, on the heated issues of reducing
current account imbalances and foreign exchange rates. The economic experts in
India have speculated that after the focusing on global recovery in the last G-20
Summit at Toronto, New Delhi's main agenda at Seoul would include
counter-protectionist measures and consolidating growth of the global economy by
reducing imbalances in currency valuation.
Comprising the world's 19 leading national economies besides the European Union,
the G-20 came into existence in 1999 and held its first meeting that year.
At present, the G-20 comprises Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France,
Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South
Africa, Republic of Korea, Turkey, United States, United Kingdom, and European
Union Until 2008, the G20 was overshadowed by the smaller G-8 grouping of
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada,
and Russia. This, however, changed since the global financial crisis of 2008, and the
G20 has effectively now replaced the G-8 as the main global economic forum.
The major growth in the economies of G-20 members--China, India and Brazil--has
also contributed to the rising importance of the grouping.
