In other words, increased opportunities for economic agents are now accompanied by new types of risks to be managed as well. The broad trends marking the present and the foreseeable future are clear. Economic and financial engagement with the rest of the world will further expand in several dimensions.
Encouragingly several steps have been already taken to strengthen regional financial cooperation. In May 2000, the members of ASEAN+3 opted for the Chiang Mai Initiative. This is based on the provision of bilateral liquidity support through the arrangement of currency swaps between the central banks involved.