South Korea has been named the chair of a working group committed to leading
discussion on green growth among the Group of 20 advanced and emerging countries
(G-20) in 2012, officials here said Monday.
"Recently, Mexico, the
chair of the G-20, asked our government to spearhead its green growth working
group and we accepted the request," a government official said on condition of
anonymity.
The chair of the G-20 working group will be in charge of
ironing out differences among member countries on green growth and leading
related research activity, he said.
The Seoul government seeks to ask
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to carry out related
research on green growth and consult the results with other member countries
later, he said.
South Korea is also highly likely to lead another G-20
working group on the development agenda this year at the request of Mexico. It
could lead the group jointly with a few other member countries, sources
said.
The development agenda focuses mainly on finding ways to boost
growth for less developed countries. South Korea has been leading diverse
cooperation projects related to the agenda with other members.
The
move comes ahead of a meeting of vice finance ministers of the G-20 to be held
in Mexico later this week. The gathering is intended to determine major agenda
items to be discussed throughout the year.
South Korea served as the
chair of G-20 meetings in 2010 and hosted a summit later in the same year. It
has been leading efforts on green growth and development for poor
countries.