Pattaya, Thailand - The regional summit of the Association
of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was a chance to show the world
how even in the face of the global economic crisis Asian countries
had the maturity and ability to cooperate to protect and support each
other, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Friday.
Although Asia was being hurt by the credit squeeze and collapsing
exports it was not saddled with the financial and banking problems of
the West, the host country's premier noted.
'We are looking for more resilience in the financial structure of
the region and more cooperation,' Abhisit said at the close of
opening day of the summit between ASEAN and its partners China,
Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, held at the
resort town Pattaya, 100 kilometres south-east of Bangkok.
Earlier, Thai Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said the global
crisis roiling the world is a chance for Asia to grasp its
responsibility as the world's growth centre.
Abhisit shrugged off vigorous anti-government protestors who at
one point threatened to break into the meeting as misguided people
intent on imposing domestic conflicts on the whole of Asia.
He dismissed suggestions the protests were an embarrassment to his
government, pointing to the blanket media coverage of the violent
protests at the recent G20 meeting in London: 'Everybody has a right
to exercise their democratic rights. Protests happen everywhere.'
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 meeting will also propose the creation of an regional
surveillance agency to spot future Asian financial crises so that
action can be taken before they get out of hand, he added.
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.
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