Pattaya, Thailand - The regional summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was a chance to show the world how even in the face of the global economic crisis Asian countries had the maturity and ability to cooperate to protect and support each other, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Friday. Although Asia was being hurt by the credit squeeze and collapsing exports it was not saddled with the financial and banking problems of the West, the host country's premier noted.
"We are looking for more resilience in the financial structure of the region and more cooperation," Abhisit said at the close of opening day of the summit between ASEAN and its partners China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, held at the resort town Pattaya, 100 kilometres south-east of Bangkok.
Earlier, Thai Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said the global crisis roiling the world is a chance for Asia to grasp its responsibility as the world's growth centre.
Abhisit shrugged off vigorous anti-government protestors who at one point threatened to break into the meeting as misguided people intent on imposing domestic conflicts on the whole of Asia.
He dismissed suggestions the protests were an embarrassment to his government, pointing to the blanket media coverage of the violent protests at the recent G20 meeting in London: "Everybody has a right to exercise their democratic rights. Protests happen everywhere."
The summit is to take concrete steps to add muscle to financial systems in the region but perhaps the more important step would be that all participants are gearing up to act as mature partners in their heightened place in world economic matters, Korn said on the fringes of the meeting.
"We need to act decisively to support our economies in this crisis, but in doing so, we are taking steps for changes that may only be truly evident in 20 years' time," Korn said. "This is the time for Asia to show itself as a true economic centre."
The meeting will also propose the creation of an regional surveillance agency to spot future Asian financial crises so that action can be taken before they get out of hand, he added.
The summit is strategically critical because Asia is a relatively bright spot amid the global financial gloom, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said in a statement Thursday.
He said he looked forward to promoting growth, free trade and protection for weak economies in discussions at the summit. The regional leaders are to also hear briefings from the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank.
"Asia straddles many of the most challenging developing and developed world issues facing us and is a key platform for restoring the global growth we need," Zoellick said.
The World Bank has created a 50-billion-dollar trade finance fund to combat the global credit squeeze, but there would be great interest in an extension of the Chiang Mai Initiative, an ASEAN currency swap arrangement aimed at managing liquidity problems that dates back to the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, said delegates speaking on the sidelines of the meetings.
"The Chiang Mai Initiative is extremely important for what it is and for what it represents - expanded cooperation," Korn said.
The South-East Asian countries, which are extremely vulnerable to falling exports, would be seeking to strengthen trade and investment ties with the bigger Asian economies, particularly China, to stem growing unemployment.
ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
