(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-03 19:05

DA NANG - Governors of central banks of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed here Thursday to rapidly realize the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), speed up the block's financial and monetary integration, and foster ASEAN plus 3 financial cooperation.

During the one-day ASEAN Central Bank Governors' Meeting ending on Thursday in Vietnam's central Da Nang city, the governors exchanged views on rapid implementation of the AEC Blueprint and the AEC Strategic Schedule to make the region a common market with a common production base by 2015; liberalization of financial services and further liberalization of capital flows; and development of the Asian Bond Markets Initiative (ABMI) and the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI), Phung Khac Ke, deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, the country's central bank, told reporters on Thursday.

In May 2000, finance ministers of ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea agreed to establish a regional financing arrangement called the CMI to swap foreign exchange reserves when necessary to fight against speculative attacks on their currencies, preventing a recurrence of the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.

The CMI has two components: an expanded ASEAN Swap Arrangement and a network of bilateral swap arrangements among ASEAN countries, China, Japan and South Korea.

"Now, we are trying to multi-lateralize the CMI. We should establish a multilateral fund to prevent and deal with payment crisis. It might be worth 80-100 billion U.S. dollars with 20-25 percent being expected to be contributed by the three East Asian countries," he said.

To date, there have been 17 bilateral swap agreements totaling over 85 billion dollars.

"To develop the ABMI effectively, our markets should immediately connect with one another, because now there are differences in the presence and the development levels of stock markets in various countries, including Singapore, Myanmar and Laos," he said, noting the ABMI was made in 2003.

ASEAN comprises of Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. After the regional financial crisis in 1997, they were more aware of the importance of beefing up their cooperation with key East Asian partners, including China, Japan and South Korea.