President Moon: "Korea's Experience with Gradual Return to Normal Life Will Be Actively Shared with All Countries"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] On the 30th (local time), President Moon Jae-in attended the Group of Twenty (G20) summit held in Rome, Italy, and announced that South Korea would actively share its phased experience of returning to normal life with all countries.

President Moon attended the first session (international economy and health) of the G20 summit held at the Nuvola Convention Center in Rome and stated, "Although South Korea started vaccinations late, it achieved one of the world's highest vaccination completion rates at the fastest speed globally, and is now beginning a phased return to normal life."

He expressed concern, saying, "The pandemic has lasted much longer than expected, and its damage and scars are very broad and deep," and "there is a significant gap in COVID-19 vaccination rates between countries."

He added, "We must deeply recognize that without increasing vaccination rates not only for unvaccinated people in each country but also globally, stable management of quarantine situations and

a complete return to normal life will be difficult, and we must act quickly."

President Moon emphasized, "South Korea is faithfully fulfilling its promise to contribute 200 million dollars to COVAX for equitable vaccine distribution and will continue direct support to countries lacking vaccines," and as a global vaccine hub, "we will also accelerate the development of new vaccines and treatments."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He also proposed policy cooperation for an inclusive recovery of the global economy in the post-COVID era. President Moon said, "We support debt relief measures for low-income countries and will actively participate in liquidity support for low-income countries using IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR)," adding, "We are currently contributing 1 billion SDR and plan to contribute an additional 450 million SDR."

He further stated, "We need to strengthen cooperation on global macroeconomic policies," and "When major countries shift monetary policies, communication must be enhanced to minimize negative spillover effects."

In addition, President Moon emphasized the need to accelerate efforts to restore free trade, strengthen reforms of the World Trade Organization (WTO) for global supply chain stability, and establish joint norms responding to the digital economy transition.

President Moon said, "Although the world is in crisis due to COVID-19, we rely on each other more deeply than before," and "I hope the G20's responsibility will increase for an inclusive and sustainable world."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.