President Lee Myung-bak invited 16 city mayors and provincial heads to his office late last week to discuss comprehensive plans for collaboration between central and local governments, including job creation.

The president stressed that competitiveness of local governments is crucial in determining national competitive power and that central and local governments should remain cooperative partners all the time, according to Lee''s spokesman Lee Dong-kwan.

Emphasizing his will to strengthen each province''s independence, Lee said that "decentralization of power" should not be a hollow slogan, but should bear fruit with the passage of time. As to conflicts between Seoul metropolitan region and others caused by recent deregulation for the development of the former, Lee said, "The local provinces will never be denied any share of the pie due to deregulation. I pledge to provide local provinces with better infrastructure to help them develop themselves."

Lee said to the heads that the biggest concern now is nationwide unemployment. The president said that the central government will lend every possible assistance to local governments when the latter initiate new job creation projects. "I will meet with all local heads in person to listen to their needs and see what (the central government) can do."

During the meeting, time was allotted for the 16 local heads to make suggestions to the president.

Governors from southern regions, Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces, urged with a unanimous voice that they can waste no time in restoring major rivers. Busan City Mayor Hur Nam-sick lamented that the almost dead Nakdong-gang (river) has been left untouched. "People from five major cities in Gyeongsang Province desperately want the river restored at an early date," Hur said.

Park Joon-yung, Governor of Jeollanam-do (South Jeolla Province) said, "The water of the Yeongsan-gang (river) is terrible and cannot even be used for agriculture." He asked the river to be restored sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi-do (province) Governor Kim Moon-soo brought up the inappropriate naming of "metropolitan and non-metropolitan" regions. Kim said that there are under-developed areas even in Seoul Metropolitan region and current naming should be changed to developed and underdeveloped areas. Pointing out the government''s goal to become an advanced economy, Kim asked for comprehensive support for poorly developed regions.

Wrapping up the 3-hour-long meeting, President Lee proposed that all provinces, local and central, work together to further develop the country despite differing needs and obstacles.