Southeast Asia cries for help

Tue, 16 Dec 1997, 00:00 WIB | Source: REUTERS

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Southeast Asian leaders called on the
United States, Europe and Japan yesterday to join an urgent
international campaign to end the region's financial crisis, but
they stopped short of saying what type of aid was needed.

Leaders of the nine-member Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) said an emergency global drive was needed to
restore stability to currency markets, Reuters reported.

The leaders endorsed agreements reached by their finance
ministers here two weeks ago. But they said regional currencies
had continued to fall since that meeting, causing more damage to
their economies and requiring new efforts.

ASEAN leaders said the crisis has global implications.

"It is therefore urgent that global efforts be undertaken,
including the central role of the IMF (International Monetary
Fund), to arrest the currency slide and restore stability to the
currency markets," the statement said.

The leaders called for "greater national, regional and
international efforts, including by the major economies such as
the European Union, Japan and the United States, and
international financial institutions, to overcome this situation
as soon as possible".

Delegates to the three-day summit said that it was the first
time ASEAN had explicitly called on outside nations to
participate in a solution to the crisis.

"An extra effort has to be made," senior Philippine official
Rodolfo Severino, due to become ASEAN secretary-general in
January, told reporters.

The United States, Europe and Japan have participated at
various levels in rescue plans for Thailand, Indonesia and South
Korea totaling more than $100 billion. But they have insisted
that the IMF lead the bailout packages.

The statement underscored "grave concern" shared by ASEAN
member states -- Brunei, Myanmar, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- over the crisis.

The issue was expected to dominate talks later on Monday
involving the ASEAN leaders and their counterparts from China,
Japan and South Korea.

"They (ASEAN leaders) noted that despite the economic
fundamentals of the regional economies being corrected and
improved through the support and advice of the IMF, the
depreciation of the currencies has continued unabated.

"This has resulted in serious regression in the economic well-
being of the countries, their businesses and their peoples."

The ASEAN leaders endorsed the early implementation of an
agreement reached in Manila last month calling for steps to
strengthen the IMF and cooperative financing arrangements to
supplement IMF resources.

The ASEAN leaders ordered officials to study the possibility
of establishing appropriate regional payments arrangements that
could assist member countries to conserve foreign exchange.

They said the creation of a regional free trade area, set to
take effect in 2003, should be accelerated.

They also agreed that consultations should be intensified to
enable Cambodia to join the 30-year-old group.

Cambodia was due to join in July, but a coup ousting First
Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh forced a delay.

Conspicuously absent from the informal summit to mark ASEAN's
30th anniversary was Indonesia's President Soeharto, who is
resting in Jakarta on the advise of his doctors. Foreign Minister
Ali Alatas represented Soeharto at the summit.

The other ASEAN members were represented by their leaders:
Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Myanmar prime minister Senior
General Than Shwe, Laotian Prime Minister Khamtay Siphandone,
Malaysia's Mahathir, Philippine's President Fidel Ramos,
Singapore's Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Thailand's Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai and Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van
Khai. They were joined by President Jiang Zemin of China,
Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and South Korean Prime
Minister Koh Kun, who are attending as guests.

A Chinese official said Beijing was considering providing aid
to Indonesia to help it over the financial crisis, in addition to
the assistance it had already extended to Thailand.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said China would
provide assistance through a financial program launched by the
International Monetary Fund.

Hashimoto told Mahathir in a separate meeting that any aid for
the crisis must be within conditions set by the IMF, Japanese
officials said.

"Reality is that aid is not possible without the
conditionality set forth by the IMF," Hashimoto was quoted by the
officials as telling Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.