Upcoming ASEM to discuss cooperation

Upcoming ASEM to discuss cooperation

BANGKOK (Reuter): Finance ministers from Europe and Asia will
meet in Bangkok this week to discuss the currency crisis in
Southeast Asia and talk about improved cooperation and investment
between the regions, officials said yesterday.

The summit will be the first time that finance ministers from
the two regions have met under the auspices of the Asia-Europe
Meeting (ASEM), set up to strengthen the perceived weak link in
the tripolar relationship between Asia, Europe and North America.

An official at the European Commission office in Bangkok said
the ASEM finance ministers were to discuss the regional financial
crisis, the introduction of a single European currency and the
upcoming annual conference of the World Bank/IMF in Hong Kong.

A Thai official said the ASEM meeting would focus mainly on
ways to improve cooperation between the regions, as a follow-up
to last year's inaugural ASEM summit in Bangkok.

"This is the first meeting between (finance ministers of) the
European side and the Asian side," said Pongpanu Svetarundra,
director of the Thai Ministry of Finance's international economic
policy division.

"It is a brief meeting, and we do not expect anything
drastic," he said. "The reason we are having it is to keep up the
process of further co-operation."

Pongpanu said the finance ministers were also expected to
discuss ways to increase investment between the regions, European
financing for infrastructure development in Southeast Asia and
co-operation in customs administration and developing Asia's
financial sector.

On Thursday night, ministers and finance officials from 15
European nations, plus those from Japan, South Korea and China,
are due to arrive for the ASEM meeting. The talks will continue
on Friday.

Among other key finance ministers due to attend are Japan's
Hiroshi Mitsuzuka, Germany's Theo Waigel and Britain's Gordon
Brown.

Leaders from the 15-member European Union and 10 Asian nations
last year held a landmark summit in Bangkok that emphasized the
need to forge stronger economic ties between the regions.

The leaders stressed a desire to increase two-way investment
and to liberalize and facilitate trade.

The summit was an effort to strengthen Europe's ties with
Asia, which remain weak compared to the influence North America
wields through the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC)
forum.

Senior finance officials from seven Southeast Asian countries,
many of which have been hard hit by de facto devaluations of
their currencies and tumbling stock markets the past two months,
are expected to discuss the region's financial crisis in an
informal meeting on Wednesday, with ministers holding talks on
Thursday.

Ministers from the Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN) countries attending the Thursday meetings are also
expected to hold bilateral talks, particularly with Thai leaders,
to discuss the region's economic problems.

A Malaysian official said Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim
planned to meet Thai counterpart Thanong Bidaya and Prime
Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh during his visit.

Thailand has been hit hardest by the currency crisis, which
began in July when the government allowed the baht to float after
a bruising battle with speculators. After the baht crashed, the
government sought help from the International Monetary Fund,
which brokered a $17.2-billion bailout package to help boost the
economy.

Thailand's economic crisis has had a domino effect on the
region, with the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia all
suffering de facto currency devaluations of between 15 and 25
percent.