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China urges EU to cede IMF power, S.Korea welcomes offer Brussels (AFP) Oct 4, 2010 Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged Europe on Monday to cede more power to emerging markets in international financial institutions, as South Korea welcomed an EU offer to give up some IMF seats. Wen made his appeal in a speech at the opening of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) amid complaints by emerging economies that Europe is over-represented at the International Monetary Fund. "We need to improve the decision-making process and mechanisms of the international financial insitutions," Wen told fellow Asia and European leaders gathered at the royal palace in Brussels. The Chinese premier said there was a need to "increase the representation and voice of developing countries, encourage wider participation and fully accommodate each other's interests and concerns". European finance ministers last week agreed to hold talks with the United States and other partners on reviewing EU representation at the Washington-based international lender. Europe, which holds nine IMF board seats, offered as part of a compromise to rotate two of its spots with emerging markets. A top official from South Korea, which will host the summit of G20 leaders in Seoul in November, welcomed the proposal as a "great improvement". "The Europeans show some flexibility and also offer some solutions," Changyong Rhee, head of the committee preparing the G20 meeting, told reporters on the sidelines of the ASEM summit. "I don't know whether they will be 100 percent accepted by the (G20) members," he said. "But I think the fact that Europeans show flexibility and willingness to negotiate is an important advancement and I hope that the other countries will show the same kind of flexibility so that we can have a unanimous solution." An agreement on IMF reform must be reached at a meeting of the Group of 20 rich and emerging nations on November 11-12 in the South Korean capital, Rhee said. "In order to maintain the effectiveness of the G20, I think leaders have to deliver this outcome," he said. "I hope and expect that we should deliver on this subject."
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