Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III urged his fellow finance ministers and the central bank governors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to explore new areas of cooperation to collectively contain the economic fallout from the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Dominguez said during the series of meetings of the ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Friday the geopolitical development would certainly magnify the dislocations caused by the two-year global battle against the COVID-19 pandemic―and “open a new horizon of risks and aggravate[s] supply chain problems.”
He said regional cooperation should focus on sustaining the cross-border movement of people, preserving the flow of goods and services to stimulate the regional market and maintaining ASEAN’s participation in global value chains.
Dominguez also said ASEAN should pursue sustainable finance initiatives at the regional level to solidify this economic bloc’s transition towards a sustainable post-pandemic recovery.
He proposed that finance ministers and central bank governors convene a small group of experts to monitor the situation and submit recommendations for the regional group’s collective approval and implementation.