23 June 2009: Opening the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Tenth Forum, which was held in Paris, France, from 23-24 June 2009, Han Seung-soo, Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea and Chair of OECD’s Ministerial Council Meeting, highlighted that the Forum’s theme, “The Crisis and Beyond: For a stronger, cleaner, fairer world economy,” seeks to address the unprecedented challenges of the global financial crisis and climate change.

In his opening speech, he noted a growing consensus to abandon the conventional economic approach of “Grow First, Clean Up Later.” He stressed the need for it to be replaced by a new policy framework that would enable economic growth, prevent environmental degradation and enhance quality of life. In order to achieve synergy between energy security, climate change mitigation and sustainable development, he stressed the need to strengthen mechanisms for greater collaboration and cooperation. Seung-soo further underlined that investment in a low-carbon, green growth policy would “yield a ‘double dividend’ effect,” both contributing to economic recovery in the short-term, and helping build an environmentally-friendly low-carbon economy in the long-term. [OECD Press Release][Forum Website]