Financial cooperation in favourable direction

Hyderabad, May 4 (UNI) China, Japan and Korea noted that their prospects as regard to economic growth for 2006 were positive due to the strong demand in the region and continued robust growth of the world economy despite the continuous high oil price and an upward trend of the interest rates in the world.

Talking to newspersons here, Japan Finance Minister Sandakazu Tanigaki said cooperation within the ASEAN+3 is going toward a favourable direction .

Mr Tanigaki said the Finance Ministers of China, Japan and Korea held their sixth meeting in Hyderabad and exchanged views on the regional economic prospects, regional financial cooperation, and ways to improve their representation in the International Financial Institutions (IFIs).

He said that they noted the importance of sharing a long-term vision for financial integration in the region and agreed on further study of related issues.

They recognized the need to strengthen their roles in achieving global as well as regional sustainable growth and financial market stability, he added.

He said they acknowledged the importance of addressing the issue of significant under-representation of the countries, whose current economic strength and the relative position in the global economy were not properly reflected in the IFIs and ensuring its legitimacy.

We also emphasised the importance of an ad-hoc quota increase in IMF and called upon its Managing Director to work with the IMFC and Executive Board to come forward with concrete proposals for agreement at the next IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings in Singapore, he said.

On our side, we will strengthen our participation in the IMF activities, he added.

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