of little surprise that the countries in this zone constitute the core of numerous regional groups. but it will be too naive to assume that asia alone can handle all the challenges i have described. for instance, we should learn more from the us and europe when it comes to transparent governance, biomedical technology, public hygiene, and environmental conservation. being " open - ended " will continue to be an essential element for asian cooperation. v. evolving relations with the us now let me conclude by adding a few words on us - asia relations. the trans - pacific economic space, spanning asia and the us continent, explains roughly half the global gdp. in regard to cross - border money flows, the vast portion of asia's savings are invested in us financial markets, and then recycled back to asia in the form of fdi by multinationals. the ongoing rmb ( renminbi ) reform could lead to a substantial change in the monetary landscape between asia and the us. given these and other elements i do not cover today, asia and the us will most likely continue to assume shared responsibility for the smooth functioning of the global economic architecture. besides the economic issues, asia's cohesion is as evident as that of europe. unlike europe, however, asian countries are divided or " linked, " i would say, by the sea. therefore, the safety and stability of sea routes are vital for the cross - border movement of goods, services, and people. with respect to culture, ethnicity, and religion, asia remains an area of immense diversity. also, asia is undergoing profound changes as i said at the outset. dynamic and diversified perspectives, instead of linear and stereotyped views, help us understand what is going on in asia, upon which productive usasia relations develop. as the us - asia relationship evolves into a multi - layered nexus like a tapestry, it is essential for leaders on both sides of the pacific to interact closely through prominent forums like the one we are attending today. let us hope that our trans - pacific ties will continue to be solid on this basis. thank you for your attention.

the region, thereby providing a boost to economic globalization. in other words, regional trade arrangements are not aimed at creating an exclusionary economic bloc. to the contrary, such trade networks can make the asian economies more open and prosperous. on the financial front, cooperation among asian countries is gathering pace. its prime motivation is to avert a financial crisis like the one we went through in 1997 - 98. efforts in this field are producing tangible results around two pillars : 1 ) the establishment of bilateral swap arrangements, and 2 ) the development of regional bond markets. as some of you might know, there is a collegial group of central banks in this region. this group, called emeap, an acronym for the executive meeting of east asia pacific central banks, has eleven members. from its inception in 1991, emeap comprises nine east - asian central banks plus two central banks from australia and new zealand. emeap is very active in three key areas, namely, financial markets, banking supervision, and settlement / payment systems. to give you a picture of what emeap is doing for bond market development, allow me to digress a little bit. emeap has engaged itself in the project known as abf, or asian bond fund. in this fund, eleven emeap central banks jointly set up their foreign reserves to place investment funds composed of asian sovereign bonds. the purpose of abf is to stimulate turnovers in the bond market in this region. in june 2003, the central banks launched abf1, the first stage of the abf project, to invest in dollardenominated sovereign bonds issued by asian countries. in may 2005, emeap went a step further by announcing the start of abf2. abf2 invests in sovereign bonds issued in asian local currencies. although led by the emeap central banks, abf is not an " asia - only " project. actually, western financial services companies take part in this project as a fund manager and custodian. from what i have said, you can sense the pragmatic spirit of asian regional cooperation. in fact, pragmatism is the hallmark of joint initiatives in this region. another point is that these cooperative endeavors are largely market - driven. put differently, asian cooperation is an " autonomous " process. it is in sharp contrast to the eu integration where member nations have agreed to transfer some of their sovereignty to brussels, frankfurt, and other european cities