An Asian-Latin American conference began Monday in Tokyo to discuss lessons from financial crises in emerging economies and to explore economic cooperation.

Some 30 financial experts from countries and international organizations took part in the two-day round table, first analyzing what has happened in both regions. Ricardo Santiago, acting executive vice president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), stressed the need to take preventive measures such as preparing sufficient liquidity for financial emergencies.

Pedro Sainz, chief of the statistics and economic projections division at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, said there is a structural problem in the Latin American banking sector similar to that in South Korea, a condition that leaves room for interregional cooperation.

The meeting was organized by the Finance Ministry, IDB and the Latin American Economic System, which is a body of 28 Latin American and Caribbean countries.