The government said Saturday that it will dispatch a delegation to the United Nations International Conference on Financing for Development to be held in Monterey, Mexico March 18-22. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the conference marks the first time in history the U.N., the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO will come together to hold a comprehensive discussion on matters concerning developing countries. Jin Nyum, deputy prime minister and minister of Finance and Economy, who will head the Korean delegation, is scheduled to attend a summit-level meeting during the conference and deliver a keynote address.
South Korea's Ambassador to the United Nations, Sun Joun-yung, will join minister-level talks to try to find ways of alleviating poverty in developing countries. Topics on the agenda range from the growing gap between rich and poor countries to institutional reforms in the world financial system. Participants plan to wrap up the conference by adopting the Monterey Consensus, a final resolution of the summit. The conference will be attended by leaders of some 50 countries including U.S president George W. Bush, French President Jacques Chirac and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.