国内英语新闻:East Asian financial cooperation makes progress: Chinese minister

TASHKENT, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Regional financial cooperation in East Asia has made active progress over the past year, Chinese Finance Minister Xie Xuren said after meeting with his counterparts from countries in the region.

In particular, achievements were made in establishing the regional multilateral financial assistance mechanism and in promoting an Asian bond market, Xie told Xinhua on Sunday after attending the finance ministers' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, plus China, Japan and South Korea (ASEAN+3) here.

Xie said all parties concerned reached further consensus on basic parameters of a regional economic surveillance unit at the meeting.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov(L) shakes hands with Chinese Finance Minister Xie Xuren in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekstan, May 3, 2010.

The unit is responsible for monitoring the countries' economic and financial situations and providing advices for the regional foreign currency reserve pool, known as Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) that formally came into effect on March 24, 2010.

The ASEAN+3 meeting also announced the setting up of a regional credit guarantee and investment fund with an initial grant of 700 million U.S. dollars, in an effort to promote the issuance of bond in domestic currencies within the region, Xie said.

The finance ministers also agreed to create a working group to discuss future strategic fields for regional financial cooperation.