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On the last day of the 7th Asia-Europe Meeting in Beijing on Saturday, the heads of state of 43 countries called on international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund to do more to overcome the global financial crisis.
The leaders agreed to increase policy cooperation, strengthen their risk-management system and financial monitoring and expedite reforms of international financial institutions. The IMF and other international financial institutions ¡°should bring into play their mandated role in the international financial system to help stabilize the international financial situation,¡± the statement reads.
¡°Leaders supported the convening of an international summit on Nov. 15 in Washington D.C. to address the current crisis and principles of reform of the international financial system as well as long-term stability and development of the world economy,¡± the statement reads. They expressed hope that regional blocks such as ASEM can contribute to constant and stable economic development by bolstering working-level cooperation.
The meeting has been accused of failing to generate a concrete action plan and only drawing a theoretical consensus. But while financial systems broke down in Europe, Asian countries only suffered in export and foreign investment fields, making it extremely difficult to draw up a concrete action plan.
China, which has the world¡¯s largest foreign reserve mounting US$1.9 trillion, was unswayed in the position that protecting its own market is its priority, the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong reported Sunday. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said it was difficult for anyone to come up with a solution as the crisis is of such magnitude that it comes only once in a century. More concrete and specific plans to draw international cooperation to tackle the financial crisis are expected to be embodied in the G20 meetings in Washington on Nov. 15.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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