Brussels, 24/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - Joaquin Almunia, Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner, was in Tianjing, 120km to the south-east of Beijing, on Sunday for the sixth ASEM meeting at the level of economy and finance ministers. Representatives of the 25 Member States, including Luxembourg Minister for the Economy Jeannot Krecké, and their counterparts from the ten ASEAN States (Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam) and from China, Japan and South Korea are expected to discuss macro-economic developments, and above all the imbalance in public accounts, without detailed scrutiny of the question of exchange rate flexibility, as well as the risks of rising oil prices for world growth. A point devoted to development aid should mainly allow discussion of innovative sources of funding, such as the International Finance Facility (IFF) and its pilot project for immunisation by vaccination (IFFim) or the prospect of a contribution on air tickets. Ministers are also expected to come to an agreement on the major lines of the “Tianjin Initiative” which consists of replacing the fund set up after the financial crisis in Asia in 1997-1998 (ASEM Trust Fund), now that it is obsolete.