Officials from financial authorities and related institutions from Korea and 10 other Asian nations have gathered in Seoul to discuss shared economic growth.

The first annual International Financial Cooperation Forum was held on December 9 where participants talked about, "Strengthening Financial Infrastructure: Towards Shared Growth of Financial Markets in Asia." Officials and executives from financial authorities and institutions from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei and Indonesia, took part in the forum. There were also officials from China, Iran, Mongolia and Kazakhstan.

"Ever since the Asian Financial Crisis, Asia has made strenuous efforts and has reaped the fruitful outcomes of financial cooperation, such as the Chiang Mai Initiative's Multi-lateralization, the Asia Bond Market Initiative (ABMI) and the Asia Regional Funds Passport," said Jeong Chan-woo, vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission in his speech.

"Despite our achievements in financial cooperation, our tasks are yet incomplete. The major obstacle is the uneven development of financial infrastructure. To make regional cooperation really work, individual countries' financial infrastructure must be improved to a level that is mutually acceptable."




Wencai Zhang, vice president of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), gave a speech on Asia's economic and financial trends and on financial integration and infrastructure.

Rhee Chang-yong, director of the Asia and Pacific Department at the International Monetary Fund, spoke about the world's economic outlook and the importance of financial infrastructure across Asia.

Present at the forum were the vice finance minister from Thailand, assistant managing directors from the central banks in Cambodia and Brunei, deputy general managers from securities exchanges in Iran and Myanmar, and the deputy director general from the People's Bank of China, among others.



Finally, the officials and executives from financial authorities and institutions who took part in the forum toured some Korean financial institutions and discussed upgrading their own infrastructure. They signed partnership agreements with Korean institutions and listened to the presentations on information technology infrastructure and the development of financial infrastructure in Korea.



By Limb Jae-un
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos courtesy of the Financial Services Commission
jun2@korea.kr