Finance ministers meet

Finance ministers meet

BANGKOK (Reuter): Finance ministers from the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will hold their first official
meeting next March in the Thai resort of Phuket, Thailand's
Finance Ministry said yesterday.

A ministry official said major issues such as measures to
develop money and capital markets, liberalization of money
markets and tax and customs cooperation would be discussed at the
meeting on March 1.

ASEAN finance ministers were also scheduled to sign memoranda
of understanding on ASEAN Cooperation in Finance and an ASEAN
Agreement on Customs during the meeting.

Finance ministers from ASEAN met unofficially during the Asia-
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit last November in
Manila and during an annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank
in April.

Senior finance officials from ASEAN would meet ahead of the
ministers on Feb. 28, the official said.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand.