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HUA HIN, Thailand: Southeast Asian leaders called on Sunday for
increased cooperation and urgent reform to deal with the global
financial crisis. They made the call as they wrapped up a summit
here dominated by their economic woes topped by falling exports.
Leaders from the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have spent most of their annual
meeting seeking ways to soften the impact of the meltdown on their
export-driven economies, with millions of jobs at risk.
Analysts, however, warned that there was little
the group could do to counteract slumping demand for its exports.
“They can try to keep a brave face,” said
David Cohen, Singapore-based regional economist with research house
Action Economics. “There’s not much collective action they can
take.”
Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
In a joint statement issued at the end of the
summit, the Asean leaders urged developed and developing countries
to show “more coordinated action . . . to restore financial
stability and ensure the continued functioning of financial
markets.”
They further called for “bold and urgent
reform of the international financial system,” while agreeing to
“stand firm against protectionism.”
The leaders also signed a declaration on setting
up a European Union-style Asean community by 2015 that is aimed at
protecting the diverse bloc of around 570 million people from future
economic turmoil.
Thai premier Abhisit Vejjajiva, who is also
currently chairman of Asean, said the leaders “have sent a clear
signal about our guidelines to solve economic problems in the
region.”
He outlined further steps in a press conference,
including that Asean members should keep each other informed of
their economic policies and closely monitor for any hints of
protectionism.
Asean, with a combined gross domestic product of
around $1.4 trillion, had until recently been a relative bright spot
in the world economy.
But because the region is largely dependent on
exports, it is at the mercy of the chaos in the rest of the
world’s economies. Singapore is already in recession and
Thailand’s economy shrank in the last quarter of 2008.
Leaders underscored the importance and urgency
of the so-called Chiang Mai initiative—a regional emergency fund
set up in 2000.
Foreign ministers from Asean and from China,
Japan and South Korea agreed one week ago to extend the initiative
to $120 billion, but gave no date.
Asean signed a free trade deal with Australia
and New Zealand on Friday.
Ministers on Sunday also signed an energy
agreement to allow members to buy oil at a discount during times of
crisis.
Splits over protectionism have also called
Asean’s unity into question, tugging at the seams of a diverse
organization frequently derided as a talking shop since it was
founded 42 years ago.
Abhisit and Singapore premier Lee Hsien Loong
have repeatedly urged against protectionist tendencies but Malaysian
premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has said it is normal during a crisis.
The economic crisis has been overshadowed at
times during the summit by human-rights issues, even as Asean
leaders attempted to talk up a regional rights body that will be set
up under the group’s new charter.
Activists were angered on Saturday when the
premiers of Cambodia and military-ruled Myanmar barred two civic
representatives from attending rare face-to-face talks with the
10-Asean leaders.
The proposed rights body has also come under
fire for being effectively toothless with no powers to investigate
or prosecute abusers.
Rights are a perennially thorny issue for Asean.
The bloc has been accused of failing to use its influence to effect
change in Myanmar, which has been ruled by the army since 1962 and
is accused of gross rights violations.
The grouping was also expected to agree to
intensify efforts to fight militants and pledge to work for the full
implementation of a regional counter-terrorism pact this year.
President Gloria Arroyo is glad that her
proposals were approved for implementation during the summit, Malacañang
said also on Sunday.
“The President is happy and satisfied with the
outcome of the 14th Asean Summit. Her pet projects were taken into
consideration there and that is why she is in very high spirits,”
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde Remonde said in a statement.
President Arroyo presented the creation of an
equity fund, which Asean member-countries could tap into to address
liquidity problems they may experience amid the global crisis, and
the establishment of an Asean Economic Community as agreed upon by
the leaders during the 12th Asean Summit held in Cebu.
She also was able to secure the approval by the
BIMP-EAGA (Brunei Indonesia Malaysia Philippines-East Asia Growth
Area) of her proposal to widen the Philippine fishing area to
include waters in East Asia, and the adoption of the roll-on,
roll-off transport system in countries composing the sub-regional
group.
The adoption by BIMP-EAGA of the proposals was a
significant breakthrough in the sub-region’s vision to achieve a
common Asean Economic Community, Remonde said.
Mrs. Arroyo returned to Manila from the summit
also on Sunday.
She was welcomed home by her husband Jose Miguel
Arroyo, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Armed Forces chief Gen.
Alexander Yano, Philippine National Police chief Director General
Jesus Verzosa and Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo
Puno.
-- AFP With Angelo S. Samonte
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