ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta, 18 Nov. - ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo Severino Jr. in a press briefing yesterday said that the ASEAN Informal Summit scheduled in Manila on 28 November 1999 would take steps to ensure the lasting recovery of the ASEAN economies.

He said that the ASEAN leaders are meeting in a new atmosphere of optimism brought about by the incipient recovery of the region’s economies.

One major topic that will be taken up is the drive to push forward financial cooperation not only in ASEAN, but also between ASEAN and the three countries of Northeast Asia, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, Severino said. The ASEAN leaders are meeting with the President of the Republic of Korea and the Prime Ministers of China and Japan after the ASEAN summit, he said.

Before the ASEAN summit, Severino said, the ASEAN Finance Ministers will meet to examine a report from the surveillance process that they have put up to keep track of macroeconomic indicators and short-term capital flows as an early warning system against a recurrence of he financial crisis. Supported by the Asian Development Bank, the surveillance mechanism is based at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta.

The summit will also be preceded by a joint meeting of the foreign, economic and finance ministers of ASEAN to enable them to take a comprehensive look at the progress of ASEAN economic integration, financial cooperation, and the security environment as they relate to one another.

Although the summit has no fixed agenda, the ASEAN leaders are expected to review the progress in implementing the Ha Noi Plan of Action, which spells out the concrete measures ASEAN is currently undertaking.

Severino said the discussions would also include measures to ensure the competitiveness of the region in the global marketplace, human resources development programs for the region, development of the Mekong Basin, and the initiative to create an "e-ASEAN," which is intended to launch ASEAN into the information age.

He said the leaders are going to look into the future direction of ASEAN, particularly in terms of the knowledge industries of the future.

The Secretary-General said that the ASEAN leaders’ meetings with those of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea would be of great importance to the future of the region.

Called the "ASEAN + 3," the forum convened in Kuala Lumpur in 1997 and then in Ha Noi in 1998. Severino said that the ASEAN + 3 meeting in Manila is historically important because of the converging economic and security interests for East Asia. An East Asia Vision Group convened last month in Seoul in a series of meetings to chart the future course of cooperation between ASEAN and the three Northeast Asian countries.