The 23rd ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting (AFMGM) was held via videoconferencing yesterday morning. The meeting was participated by Central Bank of Myanmar Governor U Kyaw Kyaw Maung, Deputy Minister for Planning, Finance and Industry U Maung Maung Win, CBM Deputy Governor U Soe Thein, ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, President of Asia Development Bank Mr Masatsugu Asakawa, the Director-General of ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office AMRO, the Secretary-General of ASEAN and the Deputy Managing Director of International Monetary Fund.

The meeting was held under the co-chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of Japan Mr Taro Aso, Governor of the Central Bank of Japan Mr Kuroda Haruhiko, Minister for Finance of Viet Nam Mr Dinh Tien Dung and Governor of the Central Bank of Viet Nam Mr Le Minh Hung. The officials of IMF, ADB and AMRO presented the current economic outlook all over the world and regions including policy responses to the risks and challenges in COVID-19 pandemic and exchanged viewed on these cases.

The ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors respectively briefed their current economic status and activities to mitigate the economic impacts caused by COVID-19. They also discussed to continue working together for ASEAN+3 Finance Processes – (1) Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM), (2) ASEAN +3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), (3) Asian Bond Markets Initiative (ABMI) and (4) ASEAN+3 Finance Process.—MNA (Translated by Khine Thazin Han)