Britain moots ASEM trust fund

Britain moots ASEM trust fund

BANGKOK (AFP): Britain mooted yesterday setting up an "ASEM trust fund" to provide assistance to struggling Asian economies, British and European Union (EU) officials said in Bangkok.

Special EU envoy Derek Fatchett, a British junior foreign minister, raised the idea in meetings with senior Thai politicians in Bangkok at the start of a Southeast Asian fact- finding tour.

"I briefed the (Thai) prime minister on the UK's initiative for an ASEM trust fund, working with the World Bank, to provide technical assistance for financial restructuring and to look into the social impact of the turmoil," Fatchett said.

He said he would bring up the idea with the governments of other countries in the region and, if support was forthcoming, it would be placed on the agenda for next month's Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) in London.