Hanoi (VNA) – Finance chiefs of the 10 ASEAN nationsand Japan, China, and the Republic of Korea (ASEAN+3) met in Fiji on May 2 todiscuss the enhancement of cooperation in times of financial crisis, includingexpanding the currency swap agreement between them.

The meeting, gathering finance ministers andcentral bank governors, took place on the sidelines of the annual AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB) meetings in the Fijian resort of Nadi.

This event also looked into ways to addressnegative fallout on the economies from the trade tension between the US andChina. 

The countries are now planning to add theJapanese yen and Chinese yuan to the 240 billion-USD safety net in a bid toreduce the overreliance on the US dollar. They also consideredstrengthening their policy coordination with the International Monetary Fund inresponse to crisis situations, according to Kyodo News.

To prevent a repeat of the 1997 Asian currencycrisis, the countries in 2000 launched the Chiang Mai initiative, aUSD-denominated multilateral currency swap arrangement under which membercountries facing short-term liquidity shortages can access a pool of USD inexchange for their currencies.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, thePhilippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.-VNA