Posted on 07/05/2002 1:51:07 PM PDT by knighthawk
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — When European and Asian finance ministers first gathered for talks five years ago, their main focus was on rebuilding the wounded Asian tiger economies. This time, another crisis tops the agenda: global terrorism.
Officials from the 15 European Union countries and 10 Asian nations were meeting Friday and Saturday at a former warehouse turned Danish Foreign Ministry annex on the Copenhagen harbor.
Joining them are EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes and top officials of the Asian Development Bank, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
In his opening remarks, Danish Finance Minister Thor Pedersen called for closer ties between Asia and Europe ``built on mutual respect and recognition of the many interdependencies between our countries and regions.''
Against the backdrop of the U.S.-led war on terrorism, much of which is being fought in Asia, this year's meeting was expected to call for stronger measures to stop the flow of money to terrorist groups.
Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have won praise from U.S. officials as ``strong allies in the fight against terrorist financing.'' But in a recent speech, Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Ken Dam singled out Indonesia and the Philippines as places where ``improvements are still needed.''
Indonesia and the Philippines also were among 15 accused last month of not cooperating with the international fight against money laundering. The list was presented in Paris by a financial task force set up in 1989 by the leading industrialized nations.
An Italian Economics Ministry official said his country would call for improving the exchange of information between authorities involved in the fight against terrorism and for more transparency in financial markets.
The IMF also would be asked to strengthen ties with those tax havens willing to collaborate in the fight against illicit funds, he said on condition of anonymity.
Despite the new focus on fighting terrorism, preventing financial crises like the ones that laid Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia low in 1997-98 remains a concern for the Asia-Europe Meeting, known as ASEM.
``We do it best through international cooperation aimed at reinforcing and stabilizing the financial markets,'' said Pedersen, whose country has just taken over the EU's rotating presidency. ``The meeting provides an opportunity for sharing these experiences.''
The Europeans advocate strong codes and standards in areas like monetary and fiscal policies and corporate governance as a good way to prevent financial crises and to guarantee stability.
They will stick to that even if some countries, like China, are reluctant to introduce such codes in their legislation, the Italian official said. This means allowing a ``certain degree of flexibility'' in their timing and contents for emerging economies, he said.
Security was expected to be extremely tight for the meeting, although many countries were sending lower-level officials and not their top finance ministers. The conclusions will go to the ASEM leaders when they meet on Sept. 23-24 in Copenhagen.
Along with the 15 EU nations, the Asian countries in the group are: Brunei, the Philippines, Indonesia, Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.