By Xinhua,
Kuala Lumpur : Asia raised its voice on more effective concerted global action to meet the challenges posed by rising food and energy prices and uncertainties in the financial system, saying it should provide leadership in that respect.
This was heard at the 17th World Economic Forum on East Asia opened here on Sunday with the participation of 300 delegates from the business, government and media circles of 25 countries.
Faced with the slowdown in the global economy, Asia will take up the slack in the short-run, said Azman Mokhtar, Managing Director of Khazanah Nasional, the investment holding arm of the Malaysian government.
Noting that corporate and macroeconomic governance have improved in Asia, Azman called for stepping up the reform of the international financial architecture.
He also hoped that Asia could review its institutions and judgeits preparation for the leadership.
Asia needs to have a voice on the international stage commensurate to its new economic clout, said Marcus Agius, Chairman of British global bank Barclays, adding “world institutions are well out of date.”
Yashwant Sinha, a former Indian Minister of External Affairs and Minister of Finance, also said that the existing global institutions were woefully inadequate to meet the global challenges.
He urged the Asian countries to work together to push for global institutions to respond rising global challenges.
The worldwide crisis is rising significantly, but nothing happened at the global institutional level, said Sinha.
Asian countries should work together immediately to make sure global institutions in place to respond to the global crisis, he said.
Asia is facing testing times, as demonstrated by spreading public discontent over high food and energy prices, said Borge Brende, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum.
Participants at the gathering agreed that, to bolster their global influence, Asian countries need to enhance regional cooperation.
Vietnamese Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh said that the global economic slowdown is having a great impact on economies in the region. Meanwhile, Yoshimi Watanabe, Minister of Financial Services and Administrative Reform of Japan, said that Asian countries should work together to find solutions.
Vu became spotlight at the forum as Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai canceled his schedule to attend the gathering.
The World Economic Forum, based in Geneva, Switzerland, is an independent and non-profit international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.