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President Lee Myung-bak in Toyako

Posted July. 10, 2008 08:44,   

한국어

President Lee Myung-bak agreed with U.S. President George W. Bush to closely cooperate to boost South Koreans’ confidence in American beef by entirely fulfilling the additional negotiation in which American beef from cattle aged 30 months or older should not be brought into South Korea.

Lee, who visited Japan to attend the G8 outreach session, and Bush held a summit meeting at the Windsor Hotel in Toyako, Hokkaido, Wednesday. They also agreed to closely cooperate to ratify the free trade agreement between the two nations before the end of this year.

In order to denuclearize North Korea, the two agreed to strengthen their cooperation within the six-party talks framework and eliminate all of North Korea’s nuclear programs including nuclear weapons.

Before his meeting with Bush, Lee held a summit meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the Windsor Hotel. At the meeting, the two leaders agreed to closely cooperate to effectively pursue trilateral economic cooperation projects among South Korea, North Korea, and Russia. The projects include linking the Trans Siberian Railway and Trans Korean Railway and allowing Russia’s gas pipes to pass through the Korean Peninsula.

In his speech at the G8 outreach session on climate change, Lee said, “Korea will also make efforts to realize the worldwide long-term goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. I’ll set Korea’s mid- and long-term goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 via national consensus, and announce the goal next year.”

Lee continued, “Facing the worldwide challenge of climate change, Korea will play its role as a bridge connecting developed nations and developing nations. If greenhouse gas credit is provided for developing nations that have successfully reduced greenhouse gas emissions, investment will increase and economic efficiency will improve, in accordance with the market principle.”

He added, “In order to deal with the common challenge of East Asian nations, the ‘East Asia Climate Partnership’ will be launched. East Asian nations will launch a joint project worth 200 million dollars so as to realize the two goals of economic growth and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Through the joint project, we’ll coordinate policies that can contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, innovate technologies, provide financial support, and test the sustainability of businesses.”

Leaders of G8 member states such as the United States and Japan held the Major Economies Meeting, which was also attended by the leaders of eight emerging economies such as South Korea, China and India, and discussed measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions but failed to set a long-term goal.

Lee finished his two-day-long visit to Japan and flew back to Korea, Wednesday.



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