Matt Daley noted: “The Council has had the honor of hosting a dialogue with the ten ASEAN Finance Ministers and American business leaders for the last several years. Being able to formally attend their annual meeting is a unique opportunity for American executives, because ASEAN’s finance ministers are playing leadership roles in both inter and intra regional economic integration and capital market developments initiatives in Asia.”

This year’s mission to the AFMM is timely given the current instability in global markets resulting from economic and financial stresses in several major economies. Given that a number of ASEAN nations are facing increased policy challenges to sustain growth while navigating the effects of volatility in interest rates, commodity prices and energy costs, our delegation has been able to exchange views with the ministers individually and in a group.

"In talking with ASEAN financial sector policy makers, we as investors and market participants recognize the challenges they are facing. However, even during the current period we also see opportunities for ASEAN nations to push ahead with the kinds of financial sector structural reforms and regional integration efforts that could significantly enhance both the resiliency and profile of the region’s economies and markets globally”, said Piyush Gupta of Citibank.

Echoing the theme of the great growth opportunities in the ASEAN region, Tom Clark of GE Money Asia noted: “Particularly given the resilience and growth of the ASEAN region economies nothwithstanding uncertainty in other regions, the role of the ASEAN organization in capacity building and promotion of investment is a very important one. Meetings like this are important opportunities for us to meet with Finance Ministers and other senior regulators from the entire ASEAN region, to offer our private sector perspective, discuss global best practices, and suggest approaches to policy and regulation that will promote growth and translate into a win-win for governments, businesses, and most importantly, the consumers of the region.”

During the two-day mission, in addition to the Council’s dialogue with the ten ASEAN finance ministers the delegation also met with Vietnam’s Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh, Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha, State Bank of Vietnam Governor Tran Van Giau, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam of Singapore and Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, the Secretary General of ASEAN. Two-way U.S. trade with the ten ASEAN nations exceeded US$170 billion in 2007.

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The US-ASEAN Business Council and affiliates are dedicated to strengthening bilateral and US ASEAN relations and building strong economic and commercial ties. Members of the Council include Fortune 1000 companies in support of promoting trade, investment, and technology cooperation, advancing US ASEAN relations through strong participation in public-private partnerships, and committing to development and corporate social responsibility. The Council's members are represented in diverse industries, including aerospace, agribusiness, automobiles, computers and information technology, consumer goods, energy exploration and development, express delivery services, financial services, health care and pharmaceuticals, media & entertainment, mining, software, and telecommunications.

For information on the US-ASEAN Business Council or general information visit www.us-asean.org.