S Korea, Japan and China Agree on Common Currency

Finance ministers from South Korea, Japan and China agreed to make efforts on introducing a common currency to be used in the Asian region as part of efforts to create a pan-Asian economic block.

During a meeting on the sidelines of the 39th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank held in India, South Korean Finance Minister Han Duck-soo and his counterparts from China and Japan -- Jin Renqing, Sadakazu Tanigaki -- came to the agreement.

To that end, the top economic policy makers also promised to create a task force for each country by the end of this year, before commencing research needed to facilitate the launch of the common currency named ACU.

ACU is regarded as a counterpart of the European currency. The Asian countries have pursued to introduce in a way to integrate one of the world's largest economic blocks.

The value of ACU will be determined by taking into consideration each country's currency, gross domestic product and trade volume, over which experts think participants need some time to narrow their differences.

At the ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers' Meeting held later in the day, the three ministers agreed to start discussion on setting up what they called "Asian Monetary Fund" where each will put some of their foreign reserves.

The ministers also pledged to raise the cap on the amount of emergency money to be doled out to a financial crisis-stricken Asian country from the current $35 billion to $75 billion.

Bak Hyeon, [e-mail]