Three Big Players Meet

Finance ministers of Korea, Japan, China hold meeting in Kyoto for closer cooperation

Finance Ministers of Korea, Japan and China held the 7th Trilateral Meeting May 4 in Kyoto, Japan, on the sidelines of the ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers'Meeting.
The meeting took place every year since its initial meeting in 2002 to review the economic growth of the three countries and their prospects, along with the regional economy in Northeast Asia and financial issues in the region. The gathering is designed to asses the major direction of the regional financial cooperation and other major issues.
Attending the meeting were Korea's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy Kwon O-kyu, Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing, Japanese Finance Minister Koji Omi and adopted a communique'summarizing the meeting.
They welcomed the continued solid growth in the economies of their three countries. In general, they said, they were optimistic about the economic prospects for both regional and global economies in 2007. They recognized the need to keep vigilant on potential risk factors and emphasized the importance to adopt appropriate macroeconomic policies in matter compatible with sustained global growth.
The communique'went on to say that the ministers discussed and welcomed progress made on regional financial cooperation under the ASEAN + 3 Finance Ministers'Process, and reaffirmed their commitment to continued close cooperation. They were pleased to see that the total amount of the current bilateral swap arrangements under the Chiang Mai Initiative continues to increase. They welcomed the progress of the study towards an advanced framework of regional liquidity support arrangement (CMI multilateralization or Post-CMI). They said they agreed to further strengthen their efforts to jointly explore ways for CMI multilateralization, while conforming their commitment to maintain the two core objectives of the CMI, i.e., (i) to address short-term liquidity difficulties in the region and (ii) to supplement the existing international financial arrangements.
The finance ministers also said they will work closely collectively to push forward the development of the Asian Bond Markets Initiative (ABMI), in the belief that the collective work will facilitate the diversification of issuers and types of local currency-denominated bonds and this contribute to the deepening of local bond markets. They also reaffirmed the importance of the ABMI in order to enhance sustainable economic development in the region by channeling its abundant savings to the efficient investment. They agreed also to promote other cooperative agenda through the ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers'Process, and elevate regional financial solidarity and strength to a higher level through their partnership with all ASEAN+3 members.
They were satisfied with the cooperation among their three countries and the success of this meeting, and agreed to further strengthen their policy dialogue and cooperation through the Trilateral Finance Ministerial Process in the future. nw

DPM & Finance Minister of Korea Kwon O-kyu, right, holds hands with Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing and Japanese Finance Minister Koji Omi, left, during their meeting May 5 on the sidelines of the ASEAN+3 Meeting.