President calls for global measures to deal with financial crisis

Beijing (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on all countries in the world to take appropriate measures to deal with the current global financial crisis originating in the United States. 

A global problem must be dealt with through global measures, the President said in his speech at the closing of the Asia-Europe Business Forum, here on Thursday. 

Yudhoyono said a lesson drawn from the current global financial crisis was the need for a change in the architecture of the world`s financial sector. 

The global financial crisis, according to the President, had happened because of three mistakes, namely failure of the supervisory policy in advanced economic order, failure of risk management in the financial sector, failure of the mechanism of market discipline. 

"To make up for the failures, we need to make international efforts because the financial crisis transcends countries` borders," President Yudhoyono said. 

He said regional and multilateral cooperation must be strengthened through the World Bank, IMF, or through ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting), ASEAN or ASEAN Plus 3 (China, Japan and South Korea). 

The World Bank, according to the President, could lead a consortium having a financial system on standby to help deal with deficits in member countries. 

He also emphasized the importance of trade and investment flows which would be mutually beneficial to face the impacts of the global financial crisis, which has also affected Europe. 

The Asian region, he said, was expected to become of one of the regions in the world which could continue to have positive economic growth amid the global financial crisis. 

It meant that the Asian region had become a significant alternative export market for advanced countries and a source of growth amid the sluggish global economic conditions, he said. 

In a such situation, countries must remain open, he said. 

Yudhoyono briefed the Forum`s participants on measures taken by the Indonesian government in dealing with the impact of the global financial crisis. He also invited businessmen from Asia and European to invest in Indonesia.