President Lee Meets with Former Prime Minister Rasmussen of Denmark, the new chairman of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI)

On August 21, President Lee met with former Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen of Denmark who is visiting the Republic of Korea as the new Chairman of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), and discussed with him the growth of GGGI as an international organization. They also discussed future cooperation between the Republic of Korea and Denmark.

After having met last June at the Rio +20 summit, where it had been agreed to establish the GGGI, President Lee and Chairman Rasmussen met once again and underscored the high expectations the international community have towards the GGGI's role. President Lee encouraged Chairman Rasmussen to utilize his long-time political experience to draw active participation from member nations for its ratification, and to promote the involvement of other countries as well.

President Lee highlighted the need to further strengthen the GGGI's capacity as an international organization, to align its internal structure and system to first-class levels, to recruit creative and talented people on a global level, and to foster them as experts of green growth.


The President also talked about strengthening ROK-Denmark cooperation on the international stage. He reemphasized that the ROK will take the initiative in developing a new path (the Korean route) which he mentioned in his speech on Liberation Day. The President also discussed with Chairman Rasmussen on Denmark's proposal for the Joint Exploration and Sustainable Development of Greenland.

On August 22, Chairman Rasmussen also met with Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan. In the meeting, the two sides agreed to work closely together to make a success of the ongoing project to evolve the GGGI into an international organization.

The agreement to establish the GGGI, which was signed by 16 countries during the Rio+20 Summit held in Brazil on June 20, 2012, will enter into force following the deposition of the instrument of ratification by three countries. Denmark was the first country to deposit the instrument in its diplomatic letter dated August 16.

Source: Cheong Wa Dae's Korean Website

* unofficial translation