We, the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of ASEAN, China, Japan and Korea (ASEAN+3), convened our 23rd meeting under the co-chairmanship of H.E. Dinh Tien Dung, Minister of Finance of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, H.E. Le Minh Hung, Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam, H.E. Aso Taro, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Japan and H.E. Kuroda Haruhiko, Governor of the Bank of Japan. The meeting was held in virtual format given the extraordinary circumstances due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Director of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), the Secretary-General of ASEAN, and the Director of the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were also present at our meeting.
We exchanged views on the current developments and outlook for the global and regional economies, as well as policy responses to risks and challenges under the COVID-19 pandemic. We also reviewed the progress of regional financial cooperation achieved since our last meeting in Nadi, Fiji in May 2019. We acknowledged that the progress achieved under the ASEAN+3 Finance Process over the past years has significantly contributed to building the economic and financial resilience of the region against negative shocks. The importance of regional financial cooperation is further underscored while our region is facing new challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Against this backdrop, we agreed to continue working together to further enhance regional economic and financial stability, including through the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM), AMRO, and Asian Bond Markets Initiative (ABMI), as well as Strategic Directions of ASEAN+3 Finance Process.
