Japan backs proposed Asian bond market
Japan backs proposed Asian bond market
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
Japanese Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa supported a proposed Asian bond market in his talks Saturday with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, officials said.
Shiokawa said an Asian bond market, first proposed by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in October last year, was important to boost the region's economic growth, a delegation official told reporters.
The Japanese minister suggested that the bond market be denominated in Asian currencies but did not elaborate, the official said.
Mahathir, who is also finance minister, was supportive of the idea and both agreed that it be discussed by deputy finance ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, China, South Korea and Japan at a meeting in Manila in April, he said.
The deputy ministers would draw up firm details in a report to be submitted to their finance ministers who would meet later this year on the sidelines of the Asian Development Bank conference in Istanbul, he added.
Thaksin at the time called for the establishment of a fund to purchase bonds issued by Asian countries through mobilizing one percent of each country's reserves on a voluntary basis.
He said the move would thwart unscrupulous financial speculators and prevent a repetition of the 1997-98 regional economic crisis.
Shiokawa flew into Kuala Lumpur late Friday after a visit to Hanoi where he urged Vietnam to publicly commit itself to further reforms to woo foreign investors.
In talks with Mahathir at the government capital of Putrajaya, Shiokawa expressed Japan's commitment to give financial aid to the ASEAN despite tightening its own budget, the official said.
Japan also pledged to ensure continued cooperation with Malaysia even after Mahathir, 77, steps down this October after 22 years at the helm, he added.
The 81-year-old Shiokawa will meet Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi later Saturday before flying back to Tokyo.