Thailand to Host the 13th ASEAN Finance Ministers Meeting in Pattaya in April (30/3/2009)

Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij will chair the upcoming 13th ASEAN Finance Ministers Meeting and other related meetings in Pattaya, Chon Buri province, in April.

The meetings will take place at the Amari Orchid Resort and Tower in the North Pattaya area from April 6 to 9, before the ASEAN+3 and ASEAN+6 summits, which are scheduled for April 10-12.

Participating in the meetings will be finance ministers from 10 ASEAN countries, namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, , and Vietnam. Also joining will be ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan and representatives of the finance ministries and central banks from the 10 nations.

According to Finance Minister Korn, these meetings include the ASEAN Finance and Central Bank Deputies Meeting, to be held on April 6, the ASEAN Finance and Central Bank Deputies Meeting Plus 3, to be held on April 7 and 8, and the 13th ASEAN Finance Ministers Meeting, to be held on April 9.

Apart from the ASEAN infrastructure mechanism, the participants will discuss the organizing of a road show at ASEAN Investment Day, which is scheduled for 2-5 May 2009 in Bali, Indonesia. This event will coincide with the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank. It will also provide a good opportunity for Thailand to make known widely the countrys policies to promote investment and its potential for further growth.

Results of a study on the capital market action plan by the ASEAN Capital Market Forum will be presented to the ASEAN finance ministers for endorsement. The forum aims to create an interlinked ASEAN Securities Marketplace, toward the goal of ASEAN economic integration by 2015. Another major topic of discussion will be the current severe economic downturn in the global economy, which has affected the Asian economies. ASEAN finance ministers will also discuss results of the Summit, or G-20, to be held in London in early April, in order to come up with guidelines to cope with impacts from the global crisis.

Prime Minister will represent ASEAN at the London summit, along with the President of Indonesia. At the Special ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers Meeting in Phuket, Thailand, on February 22 this year, Prime Minister Abhisit urged ASEAN Finance Ministers to assume a vital role in enhancing and fostering deeper regional financial cooperation in response to the current global economic problems.

Like other countries in Asia, he said Thailand had been affected to a certain extent by the global financial meltdown, spawned by the sub-prime crisis in the United States. Fortunately, the impact on Thailands financial sector had so far been limited, mostly due to its prudent regulations and low exposure to sub-prime related investment by Thai financial institutions. This prudence represented an important lesson which Thailand learned from the 1997 financial crisis. Nevertheless, the crisis has caused significant contractions in exports and export- oriented manufacturing. Thailand has also seen a slowing down in domestic demand, private consumption, and investment, partly as a result of growing concerns over the global economic situation.

To tackle this problem, the Prime Minister said, Thailand has put in place a stimulus package in this fiscal year to help reverse the downturn and alleviate the suffering of low- and medium-income earners. The Thai government is continuing to do more and it believes that other countries in the region will do likewise to avert a recession.

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