TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

East Asia to reduce Western trade ties

East Asian leaders called on Sunday for region-wide free trade and other measures to reduce dependence on the United States and large Western markets as Asia leads the way out of the global economic downturn

Agencies (The Jakarta Post)
Mon, October 26, 2009

Share This Article

Change Size


East Asia to reduce Western trade ties

E

ast Asian leaders called on Sunday for region-wide free trade and other measures to reduce dependence on the United States and large Western markets as Asia leads the way out of the global economic downturn.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama urged Asian leaders to maintain fiscal and monetary stimulus measures even as their economies show mounting signs of recovery, saying there was "no room for complacency" and that the job market was still "dire".

"At the moment the global economy is showing signs of recovery, mainly in Asia," Hatoyama told the closed-door East Asia Summit of 16 Asia-Pacific leaders in the Thai town of Hua Hin, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama.

Japan, the world's fifth-biggest air polluter, offered a US$4 billion yen-denominated loan on Sunday to Indonesia, the world's third-largest air polluter, to help tackle global warming, Japanese officials said.

The loan was part of the "Hatoyama Initiative" unveiled last month by Hatoyama, in which Tokyo will provide financial and technical assistance to developing countries to help address the problem of climate change.

Hatoyama offered the loan during a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in the Thai beach town of Hua Hin.

At the East Asian Summit meetings, held under tight security, Hatoyama found tentative support from his Asian counterparts for a proposed regional community inspired by the European Union (EU) that would account for nearly a quarter of global economic output.

Abhisit, host of the meetings, said Asia clearly needed a new growth model leaning less on big Western trading partners and more on Asia-wide trade pacts. The global financial crisis, he said, bore this out.

"The old growth model, where simply put we have to rely on consumption in the West for goods and services produced here, we feel will no longer serve us as we move to the future," Abhisit told a news conference.

Earlier, the 15th summit of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) was officially closed Sunday with leaders of the 10-member states recognizing the importance of enhancing intra-regional connectivity for a more people-centered and integrated ASEAN community.

"Connectivity, both physical and of the hearts and minds of our peoples, was a key topic of discussion over the last three days," Abhisit said in his remarks at the closing ceremony Sunday.

In a joint statement concerning the summit, leaders of the grouping agreed that central to the promotion of ASEAN connectivity was the development of physical infrastructure, of multimodal transportation and information communication technology linkages and of supporting legal infrastructure and other necessary software.

{

Your Opinion Counts

Your thoughts matter - share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.