ASEAN + 3 pen CMIM

VGP – Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of ASEAN and three partner countries (China, Japan, and the Republic of Korea) officially inked the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) worth of US $120 billion, reported the Ministry of Finance on Monday.

December 28, 2009 5:14 PM GMT+7

CMIM was founded with a view to providing urgent financial packages for member countries to ensure their short-term balance of payment.

According to financial and banking leaders of ASEAN 3, CMIM has an economic and political significance, showing close cooperation among ASEAN 3 and marking a great leap forward in the regional financial cooperation.

Officially coming into effect on March 24, 2010, the agreement will help member countries better cope with risks and fluctuations of the world economy.

Việt Nam signed the agreement on December 24, 2009. The country contributed US $1 billion to the fund which can help it respond to difficulties in foreign currency liquidity and consolidating safety of the financial system against external negative changes.

In 2010, Việt Nam pledges to proactively cooperate with other member countries in building the Macro-economic Supervision Mechanism ASEAN 3.

Earlier, on May 3, the 12^th Asean 3 Finance Ministers Meeting in Bali, Indonesia, decided to put CMIM into reality before the end of 2009.

By Xuân Hồng