Brussels, 15/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Finance Ministers of the Asem countries closed a two-day meeting in Kobe on Sunday, the third since the creation of the Asia-Europe meeting forum, saying they were confident as to the robust nature of their own economies but somewhat concerned at the persisting imbalances in the world and by the exhaustion of the American locomotive. The partners promised themselves to do more to resist external shocks (such as the oil crisis) and provided themselves with the means to step up Eurasian cooperation, launching: I) the second operational phase of their trust fund (ATF II) aimed at providing technical assistance and training to support the financial industrial and social reforms necessary to keep up sustained growth in Asia; ii) a joint forum for the management of the public debt proposed by Thailand, in view of sharing experiences and views on issues of mutual interest; iii) h Kobe Research project proposed by Japan, in view of undertaking joint studies and projects, in, among other things, regional monetary cooperation, the management of public debts and exchange rate regimes; it is in this context that the debate on the evolution of exchange rate regimes in Asia should continue, a debate fuelled over the weekend by a Franco-Japanese paper (that does not formally commit the two countries' political authorities) calling for a supervised floatation of the region's currencies, around a monetary anchor composed of a basket comprising the dollar, the yen and the euro. Ministers agreed to meet in Copenhagen next year.
In their final declaration, the 25 European and Asian finance ministers (China, Japan, South Korea, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) welcomed the strengthening of global economic growth during the past two years. They expressed concern, however, about the developments over past weeks confirming that negative factors for the prospect of the world economy have increased, mainly because of the persisting economic and financial imbalance and the slowdown in the United States. They therefore pledge they will show vigilance and make an effort to make their economies more robust and less vulnerable to external shocks, while ensuring the stability of the energy market, a factor that they consider "vital" for maintaining long-term economic growth of all the ASEM partners and the rest of the world. As their own prospects of long term growth have improved (Ed.: 3 and 5% respectively for this year in Europe and Asia), with inflation generally under control, the partners may contemplate with confidence the prospect of seeing a combination of renewed economic dynamism in Asia and growing economic strength in Europe. The Asian countries are recovering after the financial crisis that shook them in 1997, notes the ministers, welcoming the key role played by ASEM, as well as the continued expansion of exports, the resumption of consumer spending and the turnaround in investments in the most affected countries. Their final declaration speaks in muffled terms of the moderate recovery in Japan, that they call upon to continue its structural reforms in the finance and enterprise sectors given how important the recovery of the Japanese economy is for partners in the region. Briefly also concerning China, whose ministers welcome the sustained economic growth, realised thanks to an active budgetary policy, with welcome economic restructuring. They said they expected further progress in this field. In unison, they called on Geneva to speed up negotiations for the accession by ASEM countries that are not WTO members. The ministers also echoed the appeals being made throughout the world for the launching of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations as soon as possible.
As far as exchange rate regimes are concerned, the ministers added three suspension points to the controversial debate held, a little on the fringe of the session's agenda, around Franco-Japanese proposals. They noted at the end of the day that a single regime is not necessarily valid for all parties all the time and noting that, in the Asian financial crisis, whatever system is chosen, it is the health and the coherence of the economic policy that counts the most. The "experience of recent years suggests that countries now face a much higher risk of financial crisis if they choose an exchange rate regime that is not backed by coherent and appropriate macroeconomic and structural policies, as well as strong institutional arrangements", said the ministers.