The Honorable David Miller, Chairman of the C40 Climate Leadership Group, The Honorable Boris Johnson, Honorary Vice-Chair,
Mr. Oh Sae-hoon, I thank you for the impeccable preparation and all the hard work your team has put into ensuring the success of the C40 Climate Summit.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to Cheongwadae. It''s great to see all of you.

This year''s C40 Large Cities Climate Summit is the third such meeting and this venue has become a place where we gather together to tackle what is arguably one of the most pressing global concerns of this century. This year''s summit is all the more timely and its importance greater than ever, considering what is going on around the world. I hope that we will be able to pool our collective wisdom and experience together, so that we come up with specific and actionable measures that will contribute to effectively tackling this issue.

Ladies and gentlemen, as we all know we are going through an economic and financial crisis. But, this must not become an excuse that we use to put aside or delay our efforts to resolve this pressing concern. Climate change, which is one of the most critical issues facing us, requires fundamental solutions and we must be consistent in whatever we do. And let us not forget : this is not a matter of choice. All countries, cities and towns must work together.

Fortunately, this year alone we have quite a few opportunities to discuss this issue when we meet in Italy this coming July for the G8 Extended Summit and in New York in September during the UN General Assembly. Also, the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen in December is going to be a critical moment where the global community will come together to map out the future regarding what we are going to do to fight climate change.

In particular, large cities must be committed and take a leading role. The large cities around the world which occupies less than 2% of the world''s surface, accounts for more than 80% of total global carbon emissions. This is why you, as leaders in charge of large cities, have an important responsibility because what you do now is going to decide whether we succeed or not. 

Mayor Oh is doing a great job and when I myself was mayor of Seoul, I made fundamental changes to the transportation grid of the city by introducing a low carbon model. The Cheonggye Stream flowed once again and Seoul became green with new forests and parks. What I did as Mayor became the strategic basis for what we are aggressively implementing now, namely our future vision of low carbon green growth.

Korea will continue to pursue our vision of creating a city of the future, where we have smart transportation grids and utilize efficient and clean energy, a place where we can be proud because of its low carbon characteristics and much more.

Distinguished guests,
Historically, civilizations of mankind were first born in cities and this is where it continued to grow. Our vision and dream of a low carbon green city is a place where nature and man, culture and technology is in perpetual harmony. You are the vanguards and leaders and you are now the ones who are tasked to open up a new green civilization for mankind.

Once again, I hope your stay is fruitful and enjoyable and I wish to welcome all of you once again. Thank you.