Agreements at APEC finance ministers’ meeting |
KYOTO, Japan, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) finance ministers held two days of meeting ending on Saturday, where they discussed rebalancing global growth, fiscal discipline and infrastructure investment needed to contribute to economic growth.
Following are some of the agreements at the meetings.
CURRENCIES
APEC ministers adopted the same language that Group of 20 finance ministers used at a meeting last month to address friction over currency intervention, capital controls and the dollar's broad decline.
APEC reiterated the G20's stance that member countries will move toward more market-determined exchange rate systems that reflect underlying economic fundamentals and will refrain from competitive devaluation of currencies.
GLOBAL IMBALANCES AND CURRENCY TENSIONS
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner denied any immediate plans to set numerical targets for current account surpluses to discourage countries from relying too much on external demand.
China's Vice Finance Minister Wang Jun took a step back from criticism of U.S. economic policy by voicing some support for the Federal Reserve's quantitive easing.
On the sidelines of the APEC meeting, members of the Association of South East Asian (ASEAN) nations agreed that they are worried the U.S. proposal on current account balances could lead to trade protectionism.
Thai Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij asked for Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda's cooperation in discussing the risks of short-term capital flows at ASEAN+3 meetings.
REGIONAL INVESTMENT
APEC ministers agreed to improve financing for infrastructure, energy-efficient technology and small- and medium-sized enterprises.
Japan will provide up to $25 million in loans via the Asian Development Bank for regional infrastructure, Japanese Finance Minister Noda said.
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