ASEAN AGREES TO FORM INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT FUND

Hua Hin, Thailand, Oct 25 (ANTARA) - ASEAN member countries have agreed on the formation of infrastructure development fund as part of efforts to create connectivity in the Southeast Asian region.

The agreement was contained in the 57-point joint statement of ASEAN heads of state/government issued by the 15th ASEAN Summit's media secretariat on the sidelines of the summit on Saturday.

The formation of the ASEAN infrastructure development fund was aimed at financing the development of physical infrastructure, multimodal transportation and information communication technology linkages, the statement said.

To meet the need for development funds, ASEAN member countries allowed their partners in East Asia to participate in the effort, it said.

China has pledged US$10 billion for the development of ASEAN-China infrastructure and Japan US$20 billion for developing countries in Asia, including ASEAN.

The contribution from the two countries is expected to help speed up the creation of connectivity among 10 ASEAN member states as well as between the regional grouping and countries in East Asia.

In their joint statement, the ASEAN heads of state/government also asked their respective finance ministers to speed up the formation of the ASEAN infrastructure development fund and manage fund contributions from ASEAN's dialog partners in East Asia as well as from other interested parties.

The development of ASEAN infrastructures is one of the efforts to create an ASEAN community by 2015 as mandated by the ASEAN Charter.

ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) groups Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.