Thailand aims for SE Asian market alignment

Thailand aims for SE Asian market alignment

MANILA (Reuters): Southeast Asian economies want to align
their financial markets closely, laying the basis for possible
merger in future, Thai Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda
said on Thursday.

Tarrin told reporters after a meeting of finance ministers of
the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) that the aim
was to get the region's financial markets on the same legal basis
with similar standards and accounting principles.

"The joint development means each country would come up with a
similar legal framework on those markets which will perhaps be
one market in the future," Tarrin said.

But he dismissed suggestions that ASEAN cooperation on
financial markets would necessarily mean the creation of a common
Asian currency.

Asked whether the plans would involve the adoption of a single
currency, he said: "No, no. Nothing like that."

Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon told Reuters
earlier leaders in Southeast Asia were working toward an East
Asian common market which would include Japan, China as well as
both Koreas and eventually a regional currency.

ASEAN is just emerging from more than two years of severe
financial crisis that was triggered when Thailand allowed its
baht currency to devalue in July 1997.

ASEAN finance ministers agreed on Thursday on details of a
special monitoring unit, the ASEAN Surveillance Process, to
scrutinize their economies and financial markets and ensure that
developing problems did not get out of hand.

Under the system, countries will report regularly to a
regional and intra-ASEAN surveillance body on economic trends.

"Each country is required to disclose their key macroeconomic
indicators, share their immediate economic experience, what needs
to be done immediately and what are the long-term or structural
issues that need to be solved," Tarrin said.

"This agreement will oblige all ASEAN finance ministers to
meet twice a year," he added.

"The second issue is on cooperation to develop jointly various
markets for the entire region's financial system, which covers 11
topics, such as the capital markets, debt markets, life and non-
life insurance markets," Tarrin said.

"There are quite a number (of topics) that we have laid down
as areas to cooperate among member states," he said, citing as an
example the adoption of international best practices and
standards.

"Basically to get the standards and the accounting principles
and the principle of disclosure, on the same terms."

Tarrin said the cooperation on the developments of markets
would initially be "within ASEAN" but indicated that cooperation
could include other countries in future.

Discussion on the coordination of market developments has
recently taken place under the auspices of the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

There has also been talk of greater cooperation between ASEAN
and Japan, China and South Korea that will attend a joint meeting
with ASEAN leaders after the summit on November 28 in Manila.