Call for action
Written by Writer on Sunday, October 26th, 2008
Call for action
Beijing - Asian and European Union leaders on Saturday called for the international community to act quickly and decisively on the global financial crisis at a crisis summit next month in Washington.
“We have all understood that it would not be possible simply to meet and have a conversation,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said of the planned summit on the crisis on November 15.
Speaking for the EU’s rotating presidency, currently held by France, Sarkozy said a pointed discussion and decisive action were needed on detailed financial issues, including global currency markets.
“We need to discuss these problems and we need to come up with solutions,” he told reporters at the close of the seventh biannual Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem).
Sarkozy said he expected Asian nations such as China, India, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea to play a “very important role” at the Washington summit.
At a joint press conference, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the international community needed to clarify the responsibilities of governments, companies and regulators for financial markets.
“We need, as fast as possible, to stabilize the financial order so as to contain and fend off the risks,” Wen said.
All nations, “especially the developing ones, need to take decisive measures to stabilize their financial markets,” he said.
They must develop “confidence, cooperation and responsibility” to overcome the financial crisis, Wen said.
“We need to work with concerted efforts to help each other to tide over the difficulties,” he said.
Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, speaking on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said the financial crisis made this year’s event “the most important meeting of Asem ever held.”
The 16 Asian and 27 EU leaders issued a joint statement saying they recognized that “although structural reforms and sound macroeconomic policies have increased the resilience of both Europe and Asia … both regions are increasingly being affected by the worsening global environment.”
“They agreed that long-term stability of the global and regional financial markets is key to sustainable economic growth of both regions,” the statement said.
“They welcomed the consensus on the necessity of strong and coherent policy responses to recent economic difficulties and mutual cooperation among Asem partners in the areas of economic integration, infrastructure finance and microfinance,” it said.
The Asian and European Union leaders issued a separate statement late Friday committing to comprehensive reform of global financial systems.
They urged the international community to “continue to strengthen coordination and cooperation and take effective and available economic and financial measures in a comprehensive way to restore market confidence, stabilize global financial markets and promote global economic growth.”
All nations were urged to adopt “responsible and sound monetary, fiscal, and financial regulatory policies, enhance transparency (and) inclusiveness, strengthen oversight and improve crisis management mechanisms.”
The two-day Asem summit was planned to focus on climate change but instead was dominated by the growing financial crisis. (dpa)
Bangkok Post
Sunday October 26, 2008
