Pattaya, Thailand - The global economic crisis roiling the
world is a chance for Asia to strengthen financial cooperation within
the region and grasp its responsibility as the world's growth centre,
Thai Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said Friday.
Korn spoke on the opening day of a summit meeting between the
Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its partners
China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
The meeting is being held in the shadow of anti-government
protests by supporters of Thailand's fugitive former prime minister
Thaksin Shinawatra. But inside their bubble of heavy security, the
meetings were going ahead as scheduled, said Thai Deputy Prime
Minister Suthep Thaugsuban.
The summit is to take concrete steps to add muscle to financial
systems in the region but perhaps the more important step would be
that all participants are gearing up to act as mature partners in
their heightened place in world economic matters, Korn said on the
fringes of the meeting.
'We need to act decisively to support our economies in this
crisis, but in doing so, we are taking steps for changes that may
only be truly evident in 20 years' time,' Korn said. 'This is the
time for Asia to show itself as a true economic centre.'
The summit is strategically critical because Asia is a relatively
bright spot amid the global financial gloom, World Bank President
Robert Zoellick said in a statement Thursday.
He said he looked forward to promoting growth, free trade and
protection for weak economies in discussions at the summit. The
regional leaders are to also hear briefings from the International
Monetary Fund, the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank.
'Asia straddles many of the most challenging developing and
developed world issues facing us and is a key platform for restoring
the global growth we need,' Zoellick said.
The World Bank has created a 50-billion-dollar trade finance fund
to combat the global credit squeeze, but there would be great
interest in an extension of the Chiang Mai Initiative, an ASEAN
currency swap arrangement aimed at managing liquidity problems that
dates back to the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, said delegates
speaking on the sidelines of the meetings.
'The Chiang Mai Initiative is extremely important for what it is
and for what it represents - expanded cooperation,' Korn said.
The South-East Asian countries, which are extremely vulnerable to
falling exports, would be seeking to strengthen trade and investment
ties with the bigger Asian economies, particularly China, to stem
growing unemployment.
ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story