Asia-Europe partnership echoes the trend of peace and development and the common demand for mutual benefits since the two regions are geographically connected and both are birthplaces to the ancient civilization of the human beings, Chinese Finance Minister Jin Renqing said in Bali, Indonesia Saturday.
Delivering a speech in the fifth Asia-Europe Finance Ministers' meeting held here, Jin said closer economic relations between Asia and Europe will form a huge market as the two regions have 40 percent of the world population and generate 50 percent of the global GDP.
The combined market, he said, serves as a "strong driving force for their economic growth."
Emphasizing the importance for Asia and Europe to strengthen mutual support and collaboration in the regional financial cooperation, he said, "The building-up of the two regional financial markets will not only improve the resource allocation within the regions, but also create a favorable environment to facilitate investments to each other."
Finance ministers from 10 Asian and 15 European countries gathered on the Indonesian resort island of Bali for a two-day meeting to deepen partnership in the financial sector under the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) forum.
The meeting also gave an opportunity for the ministers to exchange views on the latest regional and global economic outlooks and for the host country to propose the Bali Initiative which calls for cooperation in improvement of human resources in financial offices between the two regions.
The Bali Initiative is to be implemented through an expanded permanent program of staff exchanges, scholarship and shared experience.
(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2003)
