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President Lee Myung-bak on Monday pledged to propose a financial summit between Korea, China and Japan at the ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) Summit in November in Beijing to work out a comprehensive response to the spreading financial crisis. Lee was agreeing to a suggestion by Grand National Party Chairman Park Hee-tae in a regular meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, which he called a ¡°good idea,¡± according to GNP spokesman Cha Myung-jin.
¡°East Asian nations hold the largest amount of foreign exchange reserves in the world,¡± he quoted Lee as saying. ¡°If they join hands, the three countries can overcome the financial crisis wisely."
Park pointed to fears about Korea¡¯s trade deficits, but Cha quoted Lee as saying, "We can achieve a trade surplus in the fourth quarter."
Called out about support for small and medium-sized enterprises, Lee said, "The government is checking flow of funds every day to ensure liquidity. I¡¯m going to make sure that monetary tight spots are eased for the SMEs as soon as possible. The effect of the current special financial support for the SMEs will be felt around the end of October."
Lee also asked the GNP leader to ensure swift ratification of the epically delayed Korea-U.S. free trade agreement, saying this would be of enormous help in overcoming economic difficulties.
Park told the president he was planning a meeting of the GNP and government leaders to discuss the FTA ratification bill on Wednesday. Park said while the GNP will ¡°of course work out a PR policy for the bill,¡± the government, too, ¡°should make efforts to persuade the deal's potential victims. It should come up with its own countermeasures before sending the ratification bill to the National Assembly."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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