Meeting of Technical Experts on Development of East Asian Debt Market

Technical experts from central banks, monetary authorities and finance ministries of Australia; Canada; China; Hong Kong, China; France; Germany; Indonesia; Japan; Korea; Malaysia; New Zealand; the Philippines; Singapore; Thailand; the United Kingdom; the United States of America and Vietnam met in Hong Kong on 19 December 1997 to discuss the technical issues on the development of a liquid and deep East Asian debt market to assist regional financial intermediation. Representatives from Asian Development Bank; Bank for International Settlements; International Monetary Fund; World Bank and technical experts from market participants also attended the meeting.

This meeting was hosted by Hong Kong, consequent to the Finance Ministers' Meeting of ASEAN plus Six held in Kuala Lumpur on 2 December 1997. The Ministerial Meeting agreed that there is an urgent need to develop a deep, liquid and mature debt market in Asia to address the intermediation problem in the region. Ministers strongly endorsed the initiative to develop a market-based approach to mobilise private sector resources. The purpose of this technical meeting is to explore these ideas at the technical level.

Participants were briefed by market experts on the current status of the East Asian debt market, and exchanged views on the key technical issues impeding market development and regional cooperation to promote such a market. The role of the International Financial Institutions to assist the development of the market was also discussed. The meeting agreed that the technical discussions provided useful background material and issues for further in-depth consideration.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority

19 December 1997