By Umi Hani Sharani, Bernama,
Kuala Lumpur : To be in the driver’s seat of global economic leadership, Asia needs to first enhance regional cooperation and not resort to protectionism, said Khazanah Nasional (National Treasury) managing director, Azman Mokhtar.
Azman said in the face of the slow global economy, Asia needed to pick up the slack in the short term.
He also questioned if the continent had the institutions, the leadership as well as inclusiveness, to lead in the long run.
“Where will the leadership come from? We ‘don’t see it. There is a lack of leadership at the national and regional levels, leave alone on the global stage,” Azman said at the World Economic Forum on East Asia 2008 here Sunday.
Azman was a panellist at the forums opening session on ‘Global Economic Leadership: Is Asia in the Drivers Seat?’.
The Japanese Minister of Financial Services and Administrative Reform, Yoshimi Watanebe, echoed Azman’s sentiments when he said that Asian nations should not fall into the trap of protectionism, but help one another.
Vietnam’s Minister of Finance, Vu Van Ninh, said given the strong integration of the global economy, the slowdown was certainly having an impact on Asian economies.
“We in Asia should work together to find solutions,” he said.
Meanwhile, India’s former Minister of Finance, Yashwant Sinha, said Asia was currently providing the bulk of incremental growth globally.
“Asia therefore has a vested and immediate interest in ensuring that global institutions responded to the crisis as they should.
“But the international institutions that we have at the moment are woefully inadequate in meeting the global challenges. This is an opportunity for Asian nations to come together and start writing the rules of the game while charting the future,” he said.
Barclay’s Bank chairman, Marcus Agius, said Asia needed a voice on the international stage to commensurate with its new economic clout, adding that “world institutions are out-of-date”.
Managing director of World Economic Forum, Borge Brende, said the fuel crisis and food shortages were proving a testing time.
“The region cannot afford to be complacent. The question is whether Asia can maintain its growth momentum against the strong headwinds,” he said.
Commenting on the regional superpowers, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha Line chairman, Takao Kusakari, said China needed to diversify from an export-driven economy to a domestic-driven one.
“India, on the converse, needs to develop its infrastructure, particularly its port facilities and connections to inland industrial centres to improve logistics and the supply chain management,” he said.