World leaders urge action on Asian crisis

World leaders urge action on Asian crisis

UNITED NATIONS (AP): World leaders opened the first day of the General Assembly's annual debate Monday by urging an international effort to rein in the Asian financial crisis before it brings down more economies and calling for a comprehensive attack on terrorism.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair offered to host a high-level conference in London this fall -- aimed at eliminating opportunities for terrorists to raise money.

"Effective new measures, on an agreed international basis, could make a real difference," Blair said.

Iran's president, Mohammad Khatami, called for a universal dialogue to promote peace and end violence, including terrorism. He suggested the United Nations designate 2001 the "Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations."

Brazil's foreign minister launched the 53rd session by warning that a few countries alone cannot bail out nations suffering from the effects of the Asian financial crisis.

"Experience teaches us that inaction can have a high cost," Luiz Felipe Lampreia told world leaders gathered for the first day of the two-week speech-making forum.

"The world cannot depend only on the willingness, capacity and interest of a select number of countries to mobilize and lead international efforts in this or that direction."

In recent weeks, Brazil's stock and currency markets have been battered by the Asian economic crisis that has seen investors fleeing Asia, Russia and other developing markets. The collapse of the Indonesian currency last year sparked the crisis.

Japan is hoping to regain its role as financial leader in the region by implementing "measures of support" totaling about US$43 billion - most of it in loans -- to its neighbors, the Japanese prime minister said Monday.

"Japan is making every effort possible, through such measures as stabilizing our financial system, to put our own economy on a recovery track within the next year or two," Keizo Obuchi said.

"We believe that early recovery of our own economy is the best contribution we can make to the economies of Asia and the world."

Sri Lanka's president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, urged the creation of a "lender of last resort," to meet the needs of the volatile markets because existing financial institutions couldn't handle all the problems.

President Bill Clinton pledged the United States would do more to minimize the turmoil. But he focused his address on the fight against terrorism - evidenced Monday in the unprecedented security that greeted world leaders and will remain in place for the next two weeks.

"Because we are blessed to be a wealthy nation with a powerful military and a worldwide presence active in promoting peace and security, we are often a target," Clinton said, referring to the Aug. 7 dual bombings on U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

"No one in this room, nor the people you represent, are immune," Clinton said.

Kumaratunga decried what she said was the terrorism that has wracked Sri Lanka for 15 years and killed an estimated 54,000 people.

"A particularly cruel offense against the innocence of children is their forced recruitment by a terrorist group in Sri Lanka to serve as suicide killers in the name of a cause they are too young to even comprehend," she said.

South African President Nelson Mandela focused on human rights abuses that afflict millions of people around the world -- particularly in Africa, where regional conflicts in Sudan, Congo and Angola threaten to spill over.