S. Korean minister urges 'active' role for Asia in overcoming crisis

BALI, Indonesia, May 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's finance minister called Monday for Asian countries to take an "active" role in overcoming the regional economic crisis by intensifying cooperation in line with global efforts to avert a recession.

In his keynote speech at an annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
here, Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun stressed that the bank should
"effectively" utilize its resources to help economies in the region get over a
crisis.
"To overcome this unprecedented crisis, Korea and other G20 members agreed at the
London summit in April to expand fiscal spending by US$5 trillion by 2010, to
strengthen financial regulations, to reject protectionism of any form and to
reform international financial institutions," Yoon told audiences.
"To develop such agreements into more tangible outcomes, ADB members must also
take an active role in getting the regional economy out of the recession through
enhanced economic and financial coordination," he added.
The minister stressed that the ADB should increase efforts to manage resources
committed by member countries. He suggested the organization provide sufficient
liquidity to cash-strapped countries, help facilitate regional trade, and provide
solutions for reducing poverty and achieving sustainable growth.
"In particular, the agreement in April to increase the bank's capital by 200
percent was a leading step in that the ADB was the first multilateral development
bank to expand resources to help the region fight off this difficult situation,"
"I would like to stress that member countries participated in the capital
increase under difficult conditions and I urge the bank to step up efforts to
efficiently utilize its resources committed by member countries," the minister
said.
Yoon "welcomed" an agreement reached between Asian countries the previous day
over an Asian crisis fund and what he called meaningful progress in efforts to
build a regional bond market.
On Sunday, South Korea, Japan, China and 10 member countries of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed on how they would contribute to the
$120 billion Chiang Mai Initiative fund, a regional currency swap scheme created
in the aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.
The Korean finance minister stressed that his nation is ready to share its
experience in poverty reduction and economic cooperation with other Asian
countries, saying that it will enable the region to better cope with economic
difficulties.