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| President Yoon Suk-yeol enters the venue of G-20 summit to attend a working session of the event at the Apurva Kempinski hotel in Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday. Yonhap |
By Nam Hyun-woo
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol urged member nations of the Group of 20 (G-20) to stop excessive protectionism in the fields of food and energy security, in a speech at the summit in Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday.
According to the presidential office, Yoon attended the first working session of the G-20 Summit for leading rich and developing nations, where he spoke on "the importance of coalition and cooperation to respond to threats of global food and energy security."
During the closed-door session, Yoon cited his predecessor Lee Myung-bak's proposal during the 2008 G-20 Summit that member countries should make "a stand-still declaration on trade and investment restrictions," and urged member countries to "refrain from excessive protectionism in the fields of food and energy."
To this end, G-20 members should join forces to prevent any inappropriate export or production measures that could destabilize global food and energy prices, according to the presidential office.
Yoon continued, saying that the members should concentrate on establishing green and sustainable food and energy systems, so the entire world can participate in the green transition in food and energy.
During the speech, Yoon referenced South Korea's efforts to improve agricultural productivity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and expand nuclear power and renewable energy sources.
Yoon said global food and energy crises can be addressed with the spirit of coalition and cooperation, and promised South Korea's greater contribution to the global society, given that the country has its own experience overcoming difficulties through food aid in the past.
"By sharing South Korea's accumulated experience and technologies in the fields of green agriculture and energy, we will actively help developing nations' low-carbon transition," he said.
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| President Yoon Suk-yeol, front row second from right, attends a working session on food and energy security during the G-20 Summit at the Apurva Kempinski hotel in Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday. Yonhap |
Though Yoon did not mention Russia during the session, food and energy security became a major subject of the summit as Russia's aggression against Ukraine and subsequent sanctions against it threaten food and energy supplies in Europe and the rest of the world.
The war has not dealt a direct blow to South Korea's food supply, but resulted in a sharp rises in the consumer prices of processed food products, which are swayed by international prices of grain, palm oil and crude oil.
According to Statistics Korea, the country's processed food product price index stood at 113.18 on Nov. 7, up 9.5 percent from a month earlier. It was the sharpest monthly increase since May 2009.
The prolonging of the war in Ukraine, which plays a major role in the global food supply, is anticipated to affect South Korea's food security, because the country's overall food self-sufficiency stood at 45.8 percent in 2020. Except for rice, South Korea's self-sufficiency of wheat stands at 0.8 percent and that of corn is 3.6 percent.
Energy security is also a matter of South Korea's concern because 93.5 percent of the energy resources used in the country were imported as of 2019. Though the country's reliance on Russian natural gas stands at approximately 6 percent, the overall inflation pressure on gas and oil prices will weigh heavily on South Korea's energy portfolio.
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