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.