President Lee at the extended G-8 summit in L''Aquila, Italy, July 9

The President, who is attending the extended G-8 summit in Italy, said on July 9 (local time) that the world leaders should expedite the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations through the WTO meeting slated for December in Geneva.

The DDA is the ongoing trade-negotiation of the WTO. It started almost a decade ago, aimed at lowering lower trade barriers around the world. But the talks have progressed very slowly, due to differing views of advanced and developing nations over agriculture, industrial tariffs, trade remedies, and many other controversial issues.

President Lee said during a trade session at the summit that what is crucial at the moment is the will of global leaders to conclude the DDA negotiations, according to Cheong Wa Dae. Lee also called for the leaders'' efforts to make the December WTO meeting a turning point for the stalled negotiations, said the office.

President Lee''s thoughts were reflected in the G-8 and G-5 joint statement, which has great implications, said Cheong Wa Dae. G-5 is another group of emerging economies -- Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa.

It will take many more days until the world economy recovers and it''s highly expected that each country will strengthen measures to protect its own industry and employment market, President Lee said during the speech. So much so that world leaders at this summit should renew their determination to terminate trade protectionism and activate global trade, he added.

He also said that the leaders should unite their efforts to double check the WTO''s monitoring on global trade and to earnestly follow the so called "stand still" (no more new trade barriers) rule.