Asian governments should form a $100 billion pool of foreign reserves by 2010 to prevent a repeat of the region's financial crisis a decade ago, says Hiroshi Watanabe, Japan's former top currency official.
Finance ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as China, South Korea and Japan, will probably discuss details on pooling funds when they meet next month in Madrid, Watanabe said.
The Asian finance ministers agreed last year to set aside part of their $3.4 trillion of foreign reserves for emergencies, without deciding the size and date they would start the fund.