On January 31, 2009, Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso delivered a special address titled “My Prescription for Reviving the World Economy” on the occasion of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum held in Davos, Switzerland. In the address, he mentioned the Asian economy as follows (The full text is available on http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/economy/wef/2009/address.html .)
“It is Asia that holds the greatest potential of anywhere in the world with about 40% of the world's population and an average economic growth rate of roughly 4% in recent years. It is important for this region to contribute to the world economy as a center of growth open to the world. I have already incorporated funding of 10 billion yen (approximately US$100 million) into our supplementary budget as emergency assistance to Asia. Furthermore, it will be necessary to strengthen regional cooperation towards strengthening Asia's growth potential and expanding domestic demand.
For example, Japan has been proactively cooperating sub-region-wide-developments, such as Mekong region development or the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. In addition, toward the upcoming East Asia Summit, Japan will consider various concrete measures together with Asian countries, including utilization of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA). Needless to say, Japan will support Asian countries by mobilizing funds ranging from Official Development Assistance (ODA), Other Official Flows (OOF) to private capital. For that purpose, Japan is ready to provide ODA not less than 1.5 trillion yen in total (US$17 billion equivalent).
Meanwhile, in Asia, there has been progress in the strengthening of the Chiang Mai Initiative, a regional financial cooperation initiative . In addition, last December Japan hosted the Japan-China-Republic of Korea (ROK) Trilateral Summit Meeting, which was held independently of other meetings for the first time. The combined economies of Japan, China, and the ROK, at 15.9% of the total global GDP, exceed the combined figure of Germany, the UK, and France. This summit will be held on a regular basis, with strengthening of future trilateral cooperation to be advanced directly by the leaders. This is a historic first step, and I am firmly convinced that a deepening of Asia's regional cooperation such as this will also lead to the recovery of the world economy in due course.”
