Asia’s trade surplus to Africa, which stood at $ billion in 1994, decreased to a deficit of $ billion in 1997, before increasing substantially to $ billion in 1998 following the Asian crisis. I will comment first on Japan and then the post-crisis recovery of the Asian economies, of Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea.
I really think that the structural transformation of the world, the formidable economic success of the emerging countries, of China, of India, of all emerging Asia, of Latin America, calls for the Europeans to unite very significantly. One of the main lessons of the crisis is precisely that Europe needs more unity.