Monetary and financial cooperation in East Asia has gained considerable momentum since the 1997 financial crisis especially under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)+3 Finance Ministers’ Process established in November 1999. Cooperation has proceeded in four main areas: economic review and policy dialogue, the Chiang Mai Initiative, the Asian Bond Market Initiative (ABMI), and the ASEAN+3 research group.
The ASEAN+3 finance ministers meet annually and their ministry and central bank deputies meet semiannually for economic review and policy dialogue to discuss, among others, major economic policy challenges facing the region and to conduct reviews of one another’s policies. Under the Chiang Mai Initiative of May 2000, 16 bilateral swap agreements have been signed for a total of $36 billion.
A more recent initiative of the ASEAN+3 finance ministers is the ABMI of December 2002. An ABMI focal group and six working groups have been established. The ASEAN+3 research group is a network of some 30 regional think tanks that conduct research to support the various components of the ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers’ Process.
The Regional Economic Monitoring Unit (REMU)1 was established by ADB in early 1999 in the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. It supports all of these components in various ways. REMU prepares the semiannual Asia Economic Monitor and the Asia Bond Monitor reports and provides technical assistance to build developing member countries’ regional economic policy-making and associated institutional capacities and supports activities of various ABMI working groups. It also conducts research on regional cooperation and integration and recently has started extending support for ongoing efforts to promote Asian economic integration by helping build bridges between various Asian regions. REMU develops and maintains the Asia Regional Information Center (aric.adb.org/index.asp) and the AsianBondsOnline (asianbondsonline.adb.org/ regional/regional.php) websites.
1 Effective 1 April 2005, the Office of Regional Economic Integration (OREI) was established to replace REMU. The mandate of OREI is to promote economic cooperation and integration of the developing member countries of ADB among themselves and to contribute to the harmonious economic growth of the region as a whole.