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Global leaders on Thursday attended the opening ceremony of the second Asian Leadership Conference at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul under the sponsorship of the Chosun Ilbo. At the conference, they suggested ways to enhance international competitiveness and promote global cooperation, as well as leadership models to deal with the rapidly changing international environment.
President-elect Lee Myung-bak in a keynote address said, "In an era of big changes in world history in the wake of the digital revolution, we need the wisdom and leadership to turn the challenge and crisis brought by these changes into opportunity. Regional areas and the entire globe, as well as individual countries, need such a leadership."
"Despite national division and from the ruins, the Korean people have achieved astounding economic growth, a phenomenon known as the 'miracle on the Han River,' through industrialization and democratization. Now through the globalization of Korea, we will achieve a second 'miracle on the Han River' whereby we can join the group of top-rate advanced countries,¡± he added.
Lee reiterated his election promise to create a top-rate global business environment by minimizing regulations, pushing for a tax reform to meet global standards, drastically developing the service industry, including financing, and reforming labor relations.
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Invited speakers engage in a discussion at the second Asian Leadership Conference at the Shilla Hotel in Seoul on Thursday.
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Goh Chok Tong, senior minister and former prime minister of Singapore, urged Asia and the West to establish a new global cooperative relationship, saying the global economy is being rapidly integrated, as seen in the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis. Without cooperation between Asia, Europe and the U.S., it is difficult to solve numerous tasks, such as the nuclear issue, energy development and environmental protection, he said. He urged Asia, Europe and the U.S. to work in partnership with each other.
Henry Kissinger, former U.S. secretary of State, also said the U.S. will face difficulties in the future unless it cooperates with Asian nations. Paul Keating, former prime minister of Australia, stressed that despite their economic development, neither China nor India has been accepted into the new global order yet. He added China in particular, a country that is creating new value added worth US$440 billion annually, should be admitted into the new global order.
Anson Chan, former chief secretary of Hong Kong, said although some people perceive China's growth as a threat, Asia and the entire world need to accept it as a positive opportunity. She added that in an era of interdependence, nations need to respect and cooperate with each other.
Ichiro Ozawa, Japan's Democratic Party chairman, urged China to abandon communism, saying reform and opening are, in principle, incompatible with communist dictatorship. South Korea and Japan should support China so that it can make a ¡°soft political landing¡±, he added. Stephen Green, HSBC Holdings Group chairman, said Seoul must become more international as a precondition to becoming a financial hub.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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