Britain backs call for Asian crisis meeting

Britain backs call for Asian crisis meeting

LONDON (Reuters): Britain on Thursday gave its backing for a
U.S.-proposed, top level international meeting on the Asian
financial crisis.

The meeting would involve the Group of Seven (G-7) leading
industrial countries and the Asian nations affected by the
crisis.

A British Treasury official said Britain was in the early
stages of discussing the format of the meeting with the United
States, which called for such a gathering on Wednesday due to
rising concern about the global ramifications of the crisis.

Other members of the G-7 -- France, Japan, Germany, Italy and
Canada -- are also being consulted on the idea.

"We think the suggestion of a conference is a very
constructive idea," the spokesman said.

But Japanese officials said they while they shared U.S.
concerns over the region's economic woes, they had not yet been
informed about any meeting.

Germany went a step further, saying there would be no special
meeting ahead of a planned G-7 finance ministers and central
bankers meeting in London on Feb. 21.

But Britain insisted a separate meeting was on the cards,
although the spokesman said the regular London gathering would
obviously consider the ramifications of Asian countries' plight.

The crisis has already caused great volatility in financial
markets across the globe.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said on Thursday in New
York the Treasury and Federal Reserve Board were focused on
making improvements to the framework of international financial
institutions.

Without offering more information, such as when the meeting
might take place, Rubin said it was "vitally important" that the
architecture of international financial institutions be as modern
as the marketplace.

Rubin said measures to improve the ability of the
international system to deal with and prevent crises began with a
meeting of G-7 leaders in Naples three years ago and continued
with the Halifax initiatives a year later.

He said, however, "There is a great deal of additional work to
do ... We, the Federal Reserve Board, and others are very much
focused on the next set of improvements."

A U.S. Treasury source said the proposed gathering would
address transparency, international financial institutions and
rules, regulations and reporting standards.

There is speculation the conference could take place at the
April meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington,
which could help boost financial market confidence in global
efforts to stabilize Asia.

The IMF has already been instrumental in setting up loans in
the region to bail out debt-laden economies and Indonesia on
Thursday agreed to an IMF package of sweeping economic reforms in
a bid to stave off economic disaster.

International economic analysts said a simultaneous meeting
could be a help.

"If there is a G-7 discussion at the same time as the IMF, it
will make the whole thing seem much more co-ordinated and that
could be a help in itself," Royal Bank of Scotland economist
Marian Bell said.

But in general, they were skeptical that the meeting would
offer more than fine words, particularly given the substantial
financial aid already handed out by the IMF and individual
countries such as the United States and Britain.

"I think there will be a general commitment to support the
Asian countries but I don't think there will be much else," said
Brian Hilliard, chief economist, UK, at Societe Generale. "Why
provide an extra forum when we have already got the IMF
(International Monetary Fund) as a reliable conduit for those
countries which need help?"

And the special meeting is unlikely to come up with any
miracle policy prescriptions for the afflicted Asian countries
given that each faces different root causes of their problems.