The Hindu : National : No decision yet on inclusion of India in ASEAN+3 club

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 05, 2006

National

National

No decision yet on inclusion of India in ASEAN+3 club

Special Correspondent

Thrust is on strengthening regional, economic cooperation

HYDERABAD: The issue of including India in the exclusive club of ASEAN + 3 nations (China, Japan and Korea) was not discussed when their Finance Ministers met on the sidelines of the 39th Asian Development Bank's annual general meeting here on Thursday.

"The Ministers mainly asked the deputies to look into the usefulness of regional currency and liquidity. At present, we are confining our studies to ASEAN + 3 and nothing has been decided about inclusion of India," said Korean Deputy Prime Minister Han Duck-Soo, who co-chaired the meeting.

A joint ministerial statement was issued at the end of the ninth ASEAN + 3 Finance Ministers' meeting. The thrust was on strengthening regional economic co-operation and on a review of the Chiang Mai Initiative, a regional financing arrangement, the Asian Bonds Markets Initiative and the ASEAN + 3 Research group. With economic giants such as Japan and China, on the one hand, and less developed countries such as Cambodia, on the other, the need for regional cooperation to reduce the gap among the ASEAN + 3 nations was underlined.

The Finance Ministers expressed optimism about the recent economic developments in the region. "We are pleased to note that East Asia had maintained a strong growth momentum and that the overall economic outlook remained bright in 2006," the statement said.

At a joint press conference by the 13 Finance Ministers, Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing said: "We are confident that this will be the most populous and developed region in the world. China is ready to make joint efforts in that direction."

Answering queries, Malaysian Finance Minister Nor Mohammed Yakcop said the `Asian Tigers' survived setbacks of the early 1990s and emerged stronger by recording higher growth rates. These `tigers' would be around for quite some time and their number would even increase. India, China and Brazil had joined the league.

Cambodian Finance Minister Keat Chhon, who chaired the session, said the Ministers shared the view that persistently high oil prices, widening global imbalance and upward global interest rates were potential risks to the development of the region.

Dr. Han Duck-Soo said oil prices had doubled since 2004 and there was little prospect of a reduction in the near future. Although these economies had shown resilience to the oil price hikes, the present trend would definitely be a downsized risk.

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