recovery and overcoming deflation, but also the medium - to long - term structural challenge of increasing the growth potential of japan ’ s economy. that is because the bank considers that the decline in growth potential lies at the root of deflation. in october 2010, the bank adopted a powerful monetary policy package of “ comprehensive monetary easing. ” specifically, the uncollateralized overnight call rate, which is the policy bis central bankers ’ speeches interest rate, is encouraged to remain at around 0 to 0. 1 percent. the bank has also committed itself to continue the virtually zero percent interest rate level until it judges that price stability is in sight. that is considered to encourage longer - term interest rates to be low and stable. moreover, the bank has implemented an asset purchase program to purchase not only safe assets as government securities but also purchase risk assets such as cp, corporate bonds, investment funds that link stock price indexes, and real estate investment trusts. the outstanding amount of total assets purchased, including those through the operation that provides funds at a fixed low rate, has set to be about 35 trillion yen by around the end of 2011. the measure aims at influencing longer - term interest rates and, from a viewpoint of enhancing economic growth potential, is also expected to activate the flow of risk money. in the measure, the purchase of risk assets in particular is extraordinary for a central bank. the bank ventured to decide to implement it with a view to promptly overcoming deflation. moreover, in 2010, the bank introduced a new framework of lending called the “ fundprovisioning measure to support strengthening the foundations for economic growth. ” through the measure, the bank provides long - term funds at a low interest rate to private financial institutions that are making efforts in terms of lending and investment toward increasing the growth potential of japan ’ s economy. the total amount of loans provided so far in two disbursement accounts for about 1. 5 trillion yen, and the third disbursement is scheduled for the beginning of next month. in response to the bank ’ s measure, financial institutions have been preparing a framework for actively supporting lending and investment by, for example, establishing special sections devoted to investment and lending to the new areas of growth or establishing new credit lines. there seems to be some firms that have taken a more active stance of fixed investment in new growth areas. with such new moves emerging, it seems that the recognition that increasing the growth potential of the economy is a pressing challenge has started to

from financial crises and to improve the international financial system. these measures include the improvement of disclosure to achieve enhanced market discipline, the establishment of a domestic financial system which is robust and resilient to external shocks, closer international cooperation in terms of financial supervision, and the review and strengthening of imf functions. progress of regional cooperation amid globalization, it is worth noting that we have also witnessed a clear trend toward regionalism or regional cooperation in various parts of the world. these movements toward promoting regional cooperation have taken due account of trade and financial relations. for example, in europe, the introduction of the euro and the expansion of the eu. in the americas, the expansion of nafta and dollarization which is being considered by some latin american countries. in asia, we have begun to observe some moves toward closer cooperation as i will describe later. can we reconcile these two contrasting trends, the progress of economic and financial globalization on the one hand, and the strengthening of regional cooperation on the other? one possible interpretation of this difficult question is that the driving force behind globalization has also made the interaction of economic and financial activities closer in regions which have a lot in common. for example, the rapid progress of information and communication technology can be regarded as one of the major factors supporting the integration of financial markets in the euro zone. therefore, globalization and regional cooperation can proceed simultaneously. furthermore, regional cooperation, if managed properly, will promote globalization. for example, if there are problems for which it will take a long time to form a global consensus, it may be possible to reach a consensus relatively quickly among specific regions. this is a case where regional cooperation lowers barriers to globalization in countries within the regions concerned. furthermore, if there is a common platform for discussion or a framework for solving problems in a region which consists of countries with similar economic conditions and policy orientation, we may be able to reduce the cost of global negotiations in the event of international policy conflicts or shocks. in such a case, regional cooperation may supplement a global cooperative framework. it may sound a little ironic, but regional cooperation has become all the more significant and important when globalization progresses rapidly. the global economy of the twenty - first century will most likely be a multi - layered global network of various forms of regional cooperation. regional cooperation in asia now, i would turn to regional cooperation in asia. needless to say, asia is extremely diverse in terms of culture, politics, and religion. such diversity entails difficulties in promoting regional cooperation. in