For mutual liquidity assistance in times of external stress, countries in this region are working toward an expanded network of bilateral swap arrangements, to which I will come back in a few minutes. In short, Asian economies are better equipped with both the will and capability to fend off sources of disturbance to their sound economic growth. 1/4  III.
Rising regional cooperation  Under these circumstances, we have seen increasing drive for regional cooperation in Asia, especially among the "ASEAN+3 nations" consisting of the ten ASEAN countries plus Japan, China, and Korea. As I said earlier, these countries are strengthening their trade links.