Hosted by G20 chair South Korea in the city of Gyeongju, the two-day ministerial gathering is scheduled to check up and add final touches on all the agenda items prepared for the upcoming G20 Seoul Summit.

The meeting brought together top-level finance officials from the 20 members, together with those invited from non-member countries and international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

Among the officials are China's Xie Xuren, finance minister, Zhou Xiaochuan, PBOC governor, and US Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn of the IMF and Robert Zoellick of the World Bank will also attend the event.

Ahead of the meeting, some of the participant leaders, such as South Korean Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun and US Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner, held bilateral talks, during which the officials shared views on various agenda items prepared for the meeting.

The ministerial meeting started at local time 3:00 PM (0600 GMT) with an opening speech by South Korean President Lee Myung- bak.

In his remarks, President Lee strongly urged the leaders to reach an agreement on major agenda items, highlighting the need to swiftly implement the Framework announced at the Pittsburgh Summit.

Following the speech, Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun gave a speech as well, emphasizing the meeting should end with substantial outcomes.

Meanwhile, the first session, originally scheduled to share views on global economy, was rearranged to also contain the tasks for Session III, the Framework for the Strong, Balanced, and Sustainable Growth, Yoon said.

Accordingly, participants spent the time to diagnose and exchange views on the current economic recovery pace, while discussing how to better implement the Framework at the same time.

Combining the first and third session, South Korea is interpreted to be taking a move to fully dedicate the first day to the currency debate, which has been the dominant topic of the global community lately.

Held amid a sharper-than-ever conflict on global foreign exchange policies, the event has been grabbing global attention on how the members will discuss, coordinate, and settle the currency issue.

The recent currency conflict was sparked when the US announced to expand its stimulus package by announcing a plan for quantitative easing, which would further devalue its currency. Experts have been worrying the currency conflict may lead to a trade war as countries may keep resorting to trade protectionist measures.

In the face of the deepening trouble, South Korea, as chair country, has been repeatedly stressing it will do his best to see a breakthrough in the currency tension issue before the Seoul Summit.