Leaders of South Korea and France were to adopt a joint statement Friday that calls for closer cooperation to work out tangible results at this year's summit of the Group of 20 major economies, a source said.
How to move the premier economic forum forward was to top the agenda for Friday's summit between President Lee Myung-bak and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, said the source. South Korea chaired a G-20 summit last year, and France is to host this year's meeting in Cannes in November.
The G-20 forum was formed in late 2008 to discuss joint responses to an economic crisis that battered the world economy at the time. The G-20, which includes major industrialized and emerging nations, accounts for about 85 per cent of the global economy.
As former and incumbent chairs of the G-20, Lee and Sarkozy planned to issue a joint statement pledging to work closely together to carry out what was agreed upon at the Seoul summit and to work out "specific and doable" measures in such key agenda items as energy and food price stabilization at this year's summit in Cannes, the source said.
The source spoke on condition of anonymity and gave no further details.
Other issues expected to be on the table at the Lee-Sarkozy talks included ways to increase trade and investment between the two countries, North Korea and its nuclear programs, and cooperation in
the aerospace industry.
First lady Kim Yoon-ok was to meet separately with France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
Lee arrived in Paris on Thursday on the last leg of his weeklong European trip that already took him to Berlin and Frankfurt of Germany and Copenhagen of Denmark.
The three-day trip to Paris will also include a dinner reception to be hosted by French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, a forum of South Korean and French business representatives, a meeting with French scholars and a visit to the University of Paris 7.