financial crimes. if the perpetrators are members of the government, swift and decisive actions taken against them will make society confident in the government's policy on this issue and thus encourage law enforcement officers to fearlessly do the right things. what i have been talking about so far concerns economic crimes within a country. things get more complicated and much more difficult to combat when it comes to cross - border economic crimes. these require close cooperation of law enforcement authorities in every country. today's united nations congress on crime prevention and criminal justice is a good example of the collaboration effort at the international level. to combat transnational crime, the willingness to collaborate is strong when authorities hold the same view on such crimes. these include crimes such as trafficking in drugs, women and children, as well as trading of illegal weapons. but there are more subtle forms of economic crime where authorities find it difficult to agree on the risks. in such cases, cooperation in combating such crimes would be more difficult. examples of such cases are when bigger nations exploit the natural resources of smaller nations, which have been a practice for over 100 years since the days of colonization. modern fortes of such crimes can be seen in cases where influential businessmen from large countries move into smaller countries under the pretext of technological advancement to exploit the latter's natural resources, which often are claimed for the mutual benefits of both parties. but it is clear that the allocation of such benefits is often not balanced. there is also a case of exploitation of consumers in smaller nations when products which are hazardous to health in bigger nations, have been relocated for production and sale in less developed nations. an example of this is tobaccos and cigarettes, which come under stringent restrictions on sales and advertisement in bigger nations but have been sold in other nations with highly persuasive but subtle advertisement campaigns aimed at teenagers and women. there are also cases of certain medicines which have been banned in more developed markets and yet can still be found on the shelves of other less developed markets. there is no way for the authorities of two nations to agree that such dubious practices constitute economic crimes. but it is clear that they are exploitation of smaller countries by bigger nations with more economic clout and technological advancement. these practices still continue to the detriment of the public in smaller nations. such resentment comes not from the physical harm or destruction of personal properties, but from the feeling that they are living in an unjust world, where the rules favour big nations at the cost of smaller

maintaining financial system stability as well as to prevent international systemic risk from emerging, mutual cooperation and coordination have become increasingly essential among central banks in the region. in this context, a forum called emeap, composed of central banks in the east asia and pacific region, was established in 1991. in this forum, member central banks have been exchanging views and information regarding economic, financial market, and foreign exchange market developments. they have also been studying ways to make improvements in such areas as financial markets, settlement systems, and bank supervisory methods. conclusion in closing, let me briefly touch upon japan ’ s role in asia. given the size of its economic presence and close relations with countries in the asian region, japan should make an appropriate contribution to regional development. to this end, first of all, japan itself must aggressively implement structural reform to realize robust economic fundamentals. at the same time, japan should promote further opening and improvement of its domestic markets to contribute to the efficient and fair allocation of world resources. particularly in financial markets, various measures for improvement have been effected. for example, in the benchmark government bond market, the maturity of bonds has been diversified and the withholding tax on non - residents lifted. we should continue such efforts to make domestic markets more attractive for overseas investors. through such efforts, i believe and sincerely hope that countries both within and outside the asian region will come to have greater confidence in japan, which, in turn, will contribute to closer and stronger cooperation in asia.