Finance leaders to seek breakthrough in preparation for G20 summit
0 
The G20 finance ministers and central bank governors' meeting kicked off Friday, seeking to review and finalize issues to be tabled at the upcoming G20 Seoul Summit.
Hosted by G20 chair South Korea in the city of Gyeongju, the two-day ministerial gathering is scheduled to check up all the agenda items to be discussed at the upcoming G20 Seoul Summit.
The meeting brought together top-level finance officials from the 20 member countries, together with those invited from non- member countries and international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
Ahead of the meeting, some of the participant leaders, such as South Korean Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun and U.S. Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner, held bilateral talks, which were known to focus on the thorny global currency tension issue.
The meeting started at local time 3:00 p.m. (0600 GMT) with an opening speech by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.
In his remarks, President Lee strongly urged the leaders to reach an agreement on major agenda items, highlighting the need to swiftly implement the Framework announced at the Pittsburgh Summit.
Meanwhile, the first session is to be spent on global economy, where participants are known to diagnose and share views on the current economic recovery pace.
The session, in particular, is scheduled to be mostly dedicated to discussions on the issue of currency and international trade, which has been the dominant topic of the global community lately.
