APEC plans to build "protection line" against financial crisis
4/11/2008 15:27
The 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
forum are planning to build a "protection line" against international financial
crisis, said Peruvian Vice Minister of Finance Eduardo Moron yesterday.
The
current global financial crisis and price volatility of food prices at regional
and global levels top the agenda of a two-day meeting of Vice Financial
Ministers of APEC which began yesterday in Trujillo, northwestern Peru.
"Not
every APEC economy needs to be sent to the 'emergency room' or to be helped by
the International Monetary Fund, but we will construct a second protection line
in a coordinated manner," Moron, who presides over the meeting, told
reporters.
On food prices, he said that the APEC members "were analyzing
carefully food prices in the future, with hope that world agriculture offer
stabilizes and even increases."
"Pressure on food prices is slow, but we are
working to be prepared," he said.
Together with vice financial ministers of
APEC Economies, senior officials from international finance organizations, such
as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank
and the Andean Corporation of Promotion, also attended the meeting.
The
meeting of vice financial ministers, followed by a meeting of financial
ministers tomorrow, is expected to pave the way for the annual APEC summit to be
held on Nov. 22-23 in Lima, Peru, where 21 leaders of the member economies will
discuss the ongoing financial turmoil and a plan for a new Asia-Pacific free
trade community.
Xinhua
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