The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), together with China, South Korea and Japan, namely ASEAN+3, may expand their foreign exchange reserve pool to US$120 billion from the current US$80 billion, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said on Dec 15.

ASEAN+3 countries agreed this May to set up an US$80 billion reserve pool to protect their own currencies from the raging global financial crisis.

Wirajuda told reporters he hopes the fund-raising plan could be passed at the next meeting of ASEAN+3 countries' finance ministers. However, it's still undecided when such a meeting will be held.

The meeting was originally planned for later this month in Thailand but the future of the meeting has been clouded by the recent political crisis in that country.

China's Premier Wen Jiabao attended the trilateral summit between China, Japan and South Korea on Dec 13 in Japan. At the meeting, Wen stressed the importance of consolidating East Asia's economic cooperation to ward off the global financial crisis.

(China Daily December 16, 2008)