[Title] Joint Press Statement of the East Asia Summit on the Global Economic and Financial Crisis
1. H.E. Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, as the ASEAN Chair and the East Asia Summit (EAS) coordinator, has been mandated by the EAS Leaders to issue Joint Press Statement of the East Asia Summit on the Global Economic and Financial Crisis. Pursuant to the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the East Asia Summit in 2005, the Leaders agreed that the world is facing a global recession of unprecedented dimensions and called for policy responses that focus on restoring financial stability and economic growth and development.
2. Mindful of Asia's important role as a centre of growth that is open to the world, they understand the need to take appropriate and coordinated measures against the impact of the financial crisis and the downturn of the world's economy as well as to strengthen the region's growth potential and expand demand. They commended the fiscal and monetary stimulus measures and other policy actions undertaken by the EAS participating countries and resolved to take further actions as appropriate to sustain growth and jobs, reduce poverty, restore confidence, and support medium-to-long term macroeconomic and financial stability. They also agreed that stimulus packages alone will not have the desired effect without a stable financial system playing its role in economic growth.
3. They underscored the critical importance of standing firm against protectionist and distortionary measures and refraining from raising new barriers. They agreed that a prompt, ambitious and balanced conclusion to the WTO Doha Development Agenda negotiations based on progress achieved to date is necessary and would inject confidence and assist in the global economic recovery. They also agreed that further regional economic cooperation, trade facilitation and liberalisation would contribute to making the EAS region a more attractive market and investment destination, and to this end, they noted that Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East Asia (CEPEA) Initiative could further enhance intra-regional trade. They looked forward to the 2nd Phase study recommendation on CEPEA at the 4th EAS. As a further sign of their commitment they pledged to minimise the trade-distorting impact of their fiscal stimulus measures and industry support polices, and agreed to work together with other countries to this end.
4. Recognising the unprecedented international linkages demonstrated by the global financial turmoil and economic slowdown and the strains on the EAS participating countries, they agreed on the need to further enhance the regional financial cooperation and integration frameworks. They commended the work of the Chiang Mai Initiative under the ASEAN+3 cooperation framework, including efforts to expedite the multilateralisation process, and the Asian Bond Markets Initiative, in developing and deepening financial markets in the region.
5. They agreed that ASEAN-led consultations with other organizations and fora in Asia and the Asia-Pacific would contribute to safeguarding the region from future regional and global economic and financial crises.
6. They supported the agreement at the London Summit on 2 April 2009 to restore confidence, growth and jobs, reject protectionism and promote global trade and investment, strengthen financial regulation to rebuild trust, reform international financial institutions to reflect greater voice and representation of emerging and developing countries, and inject an additional US$ 1.1 trillion to enhance global financial liquidity in particular to support growth in emerging and developing countries. In this connection, they expressed their commitment to support the global efforts led by G20 to raise global output by 4 percent by the end of 2010 and accelerate the transition to a green economy.
7. They emphasized the importance of international cooperation to develop concrete measures to alleviate the impact of the crisis, including social safety-net programmes and assistance to small and medium enterprises.
8. They expressed determination to strengthen the region's growth potential and expand demand, including through accelerating basic infrastructure improvement, policies and measures for expanding domestic demand, assistance to the private sector in particular SMEs, and human resources development as well as advancing regional cooperation efforts, such as ASEAN integration, facilitation of trade and investment, promotion of subregion-wide development and promotion of people-to-people exchanges.
9. They agreed to support efforts by export credit agencies (ECAs), international financial institutions and private banks to ensure that adequate finance is available to business, including small and medium-sized enterprises, and to keep trade and investment flowing in the region. They also welcomed ECAs to strengthen their cooperation in the areas of re-insurance, capacity building and information exchange.
10. They reaffirmed the importance of regional financial cooperation, in particular on strengthening the financial sector of the EAS participating countries, including financial regulations. They commended the efforts of EAS finance officials to advance this agenda, and noted that the report on An Assessment of Financial Sector Capacity Building Needs of East Asia Summit Countries could serve as the basis for ongoing work on capacity building, which would be reviewed at the 4th EAS in October 2009.
11. In order to promote sub-regional development, they encouraged the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), ADB and ASEAN Secretariat to work together to prepare as soon as possible a coherent master plan, which would contribute to coordinating, expediting, upgrading and expanding sub-regional initiatives and promoting private sector participation. In addition, they called upon ERIA to provide policy recommendation to stimulate economic growth in the region, deepen regional integration and strengthen partnership in East Asia.
Issued on 3 June 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand