The leaders of 10 ASEAN members, China, South Korea and Japan (ASEAN+3) Friday discussed ways to deal with the impacts of the global financial crisis at a special meeting in Beijing.

The leaders were agreed that ASEAN and their three partners should further strengthen regional coordination and take prompt, effective measures to deal with the crisis.

They expressed their determination to boost the plan for regional economic, trade and investment cooperation before the East Asia Free Trade Area (EAFTA) is established.

The leaders also agreed to set up a common foreign currency reserve fund of US$80 billion to cope with the global financial crisis.

Later Friday, PM Dung attended the two-day Seventh Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 7) in Beijing, together with team leaders of the 44 other meeting members.

Food security

Agriculture and forestry ministers of ASEAN, China, South Korea and Japan have agreed to strengthen cooperation in guaranteeing cooking security and accelerating the pilot East Asia Emergency Rice Reserve project. The agreement was reached at the eighth AMAF (ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry) meeting in Hanoi Friday.

The ministers also re-affirmed the need for sustainable development in agricultural, forestry and fisheries sectors, and for guaranteeing sustainable cereal supply connected with preserving the natural environment and socio-cultural traditions of rural communities.

Also Friday, President Nguyen Minh Triet received the leaders of delegations who will attend the 30th AMAF and eighth AMAF+3 meetings in Hanoi.

Source: TN, VNA