Finance ministers and central bank governors from ASEAN member countries gathered in Jakarta today, Friday (25/8).
The meeting covered several topics, ranging from infrastructure financing, healthcare, to cross-border payment cooperation and the use of local currencies.
In the field of healthcare, ASEAN finance ministers and health ministers successfully held their first meeting on Thursday (24/8).
The member countries agreed to use the remaining funds from the Covid-19 pandemic response as a preparation fund in case of future pandemics. ASEAN is also exploring other sources of funding.
In the realm of food security, ASEAN is enhancing its commitment to collaboration between the financial sector and other sectors for regional food security.
The regional nations also aim to increase financing for infrastructure due to the substantial financing gap that still exists.
"Finance ministers and central bank governors discussed how ASEAN can enhance infrastructure financing through the repositioning of the existing ASEAN Infrastructure Fund (AIF) into the ASEAN Green Fund," said Finance Minister Sri Mulyani in a press conference at Hotel Mulia, Jakarta, on Friday (25/8).
The repositioning aims to support sustainable infrastructure development in ASEAN. The meeting also agreed on integrating the infrastructure development fund with the green taxonomy already agreed upon by ASEAN.
Regarding the digital economy, member countries agreed to strengthen the connectivity of the regional payment system or RPC by approving a roadmap that outlines the path for ASEAN countries to participate in this cooperation.
Recently, Vietnam has signed an MoU for the integration of the cross-border payment system, with other countries to follow suit.
"We also look forward to other ASEAN countries, including Brunei Darussalam, to join this cooperation," said BI Governor Perry Warjiyo at the same event with Sri Mulyani.
Moreover, the nations have supported the achievement of High-Level Principles for the local currency transaction (LCT) framework. These High-Level Principles will serve as a foundation for building the LCT framework in ASEAN.
The association also encourages more member countries to implement LCT to support macroeconomic stability and the financial system.
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