“Leaders at the meeting agreed to hold a gathering of finance ministers and central bank governors before the December ASEAN+3 meeting to draw up detailed measures for financial cooperation within the region,” South Korea’s presidential office said in a statement.

“They also shared the view of expanding the existing bilateral currency swaps to prepare against various financial crises, and the need for nursing Asian bonds markets.”

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), grouping 10 Southeast Asian nations, held a breakfast meeting with China, Japan and South Korea just ahead of the October 24-25 Asia-Europe Meeting in Beijing.

A Japanese government official said separately that the leaders largely agreed that Asian economies are coping relatively well with the global financial crisis.

“But they said since the global financial turmoil could continue, they will need to continue monitoring closely whether there will be a further impact on Asia,” the official added.

At the informal gathering, called ad-hoc because of growing concerns about the worldwide financial crisis, Asian leaders agreed to speed up cooperation to form the widened pooling scheme by the first half of next year, South Korea said.

The 13 nations agreed in May to expand the reserve pooling scheme, taking them a step closer to creating an Asian monetary fund, which has gained support in the region as the financial sector turmoil dampens growth.

The multilateral scheme will replace the existing arrangement of mainly bilateral currency swaps, called the Chiang Mai Initiative.

The agreement will give participating nations access to a foreign exchange reserve pool of at least $80 billion in the event of a financial emergency.

South Korea, China and Japan have agreed to provide 80 percent of the money, with ASEAN pooling the remainder. They are discussing each country’s contribution ratio and how to manage it.

ASEAN groups Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Brunei.

Source: Reuters