ASEAN finance ministers plus their counterparts from Japan, China, and the Republic of Korea (RoK) will discuss joint efforts to revive the region’s economies at a meeting in Thailand next week, Thai Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij has said.

ASEAN+3 Summit held in Indonesia in 2003

Thai News Agency (TNA) quoted Korn as saying that the RoK finance minister would co-chair the meeting which to be attended by the ASEAN secretary-general and the president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The ASEAN+3 meeting, to be held on the resort island of Phuket on February 22, is designed to encourage greater financial cooperation, to strengthen relations amid the global financial crisis and to deal with fluctuation in oil prices.

The meeting plans to draft a joint policy or measures to counter the economic downturn and determine ways to lead ASEAN+3 to become a world economic powerhouse once again, he added.

At the meeting, the ASEAN+3 finance ministers will also discuss the progress of the Chiang Mai Initiative, a programme of financial cooperation launched in 2000.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

VietNamNet/VOV