Just before the opening of the G20 Seoul Summit 2010, over 120 global business people from 34 countries will participate in the G20 Business Summit on the 11th of this month at Seoul Walkerhill Hotel. Apart from participating in the official schedule, including the round table where the heads of each state will gather, they are going to discuss various business opportunities in a one-on-one business meeting among others.
Oh Young-ho, Chairman of the G20 Business Summit, explained, "over 120 CEOs from 34 countries as well as 11 leaders of G20 nations including President Myungbak Lee will attend the Business Summit, in order to look at solutions for the global economic growth, and the head of Russia and Indonesia are yet to decide their participation in the meeting." The 11 leaders who currently confirmed their attendance are: Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel; Prime Minister of the UK, David Cameron; President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma; President of Argentina, Christina Fernandez; Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard; Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Zapatero; President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon; Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; and President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso.
According to the organizing committee, the participants of this meeting include 22 of the world's biggest corporations; 42 of the companies are the largest in their own country; 53 percent of the participating companies have substantial influence on the global economy; 29 companies are in the financial industry; 26 in energy; 23 in the manufacturing; 14 in IT; and 16 belong to other industries including distribution and shipping. Also, 12 leaders of economic organizations will be present at the meeting to speak for absent companies.
Lee Kun-hee, CEO of Samsung Electronics, will be at the meeting, and Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft, announced that he cannot participate in the meeting due to unexpected circumstances, despite his initial promise.
This meeting will not only promote collaboration among business people for global economic growth, but the organizing committee is also planning to open a 'Business Meeting One-stop Support Center' within the hotel to connect participating companies to one another, helping to create practical business opportunities.
Oh Young-ho, Head of the committee, added, "as far as we were informed, a total of 21 companies, including 9 from Korea, are planning to have 72 business meetings. However, considering that most companies prefer unofficial meetings, we believe that the actual number will be far greater than the committee's estimation." In fact, some CEOs of the global corporations are reportedly planning to visit the actual workplace of Korean companies, and the number of business meetings is likely to increase in coming days.
Also, the leaders of eight nations who will take part in the business summit round table are planning to have a one-hour discussion with 30 global business people over economic issues concerning the G20. For this, the companies have formed working groups and prepared reports for 12 subjects on sustainable growth, such as green development, trade investment, and social responsibilities of corporations.
Mr. Oh said, "The Seoul Business Summit is the first attempt to actively involve influential private enterprises in promoting global economic growth, rather than following the old economic model where they just followed the government's policy to stimulate the economy."
"If this business summit becomes an official part of the G20 summit," he added, "it will mark an impressive achievement in terms of Korea's initiative in turning the 'Seoul model' into a 'Global model."
