Ministers to meet on crisis

Ministers to meet on crisis

TOKYO (AFP): Finance ministers from Japan, the United States and Southeast Asian nations plan to meet in the coming weeks to discuss ways of coping with the currency and stockmarket turmoil in Asia, reports said yesterday.

China, Hong Kong and other economies are also expected to be represented at the meeting which will discuss such measures as procurement of funds for intervention in foreign exchange markets, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.

The emergency meeting is most likely to be held in early December but it may be hosted in Asia in late November before the summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Vancouver, Canada, the newspaper said.

It could be developed into a regular conference of finance ministers and central bank governors in the region as such an idea has been upheld within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the leading business daily said.

The Asahi Shimbun reported that Japan and other Asian countries had agreed to hold talks at vice-minister level in Manila on Nov. 18 on the proposed establishment of an Asian monetary fund.

Eisuke Sakakibara, Japan's vice finance minister for international affairs, is scheduled to visit Washington next week for a meeting with U.S. Treasury officials on the Asian fund concept, the daily said.

Washington has been cautious about the scheme which it said could become an easy source of money for countries hit by a currency crisis.