ASEAN SENIOR OFFICIALS MEET IN MANADO TO DISCUSS RESERVE FUNDS

Manado, North Sulawesi, May 7 (ANTARA) - Senior officials from ASEAN nations have been meeting here since Wednesday (May 6) to discuss the US$120-million reserve funds allocated to help ASEAN's ten member countries face the current global economic crisis.

The reserve funds were allocated to help countries grouped in ASEAN hit by the global economic crisis, Imron Cotan, the foreign affairs ministry's secretary general, said here on Thursday.

The senior officials attending the meeting which is to run until Friday (May 8) are from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Laos, Brunei, the Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia.

Every country which was affected by the impacts of the global economic crisis, could withdraw the funds in order to boost the state's economic performance and to prevent its economy from falling, he said.

The governments of the ASEAN member nations have tried to create a market stability and to boost their respective economic growth, he said.

The senior officials also discussed an ASEAN centralistic program.

The ASEAN Senior Official Meeting (SOM) in Manado was a follow up of the ASEAN meeting held in Pattaya, Thailand, recently.

The results of the ASEAN SOM in Manado would be submitted to the next ASEAN Summit to be held in Thailand, October this year.

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