Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (front) waves to journalists before taking a group photo with other leaders who attend the 8th East Asia Summit (EAS) in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei, Oct. 10, 2013. [Huang Jingwen/Xinhua]

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday called on Southeast and East Asia countries to strengthen regional economic and financial cooperation, when he put forward a four-pronged proposal at the 16th "10+3" leaders' meeting in the Bruneian capital.

The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), together with China, Japan and South Korea, constitute an important pillar of East Asian cooperation, said Li.

As the world economic recovery remains difficult and fragile, and the Asian economic growth is still shadowed by uncertainty, the 13 nations carry a historic mission on their shoulders, he added.

He proposed that the nations should cooperate to speed up East Asian economic integration and try to conclude the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership negotiations by 2015, and also called on the nations to advance the construction of a regional financial safe net and promote regional financial stability and economic development.

Li said measures to strengthen regional financial cooperation can include boosting domestic foreign exchange reserves, expanding the regional foreign exchange pool and improving bilateral currency swap mechanisms.

Li pledged to "improve and work out the details of operating procedures for the $240 billion foreign exchange pool and explore the possibility of improving the use of local currencies" under the framework of a currency swap arrangement known as the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization.

Li also proposed the 13 countries to work more closely in such areas as food security and people-to-people exchanges.

Noting that the mechanism was born in the throes of the Asian financial crisis and has now weathered the storm of the international financial crisis, Li said "10+3" cooperation has played a contributive role in promoting regional economic stability and global economic growth.

Li arrived in Bandar Seri Begawan Wednesday for a series of East Asian leaders' meetings and an official visit to Brunei. The trip, his first to Southeast Asia as premier, will also take him to Thailand and Vietnam.

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