Pattaya, Thailand - The global economic crisis roiling the world is a chance for Asia to strengthen financial cooperation within the region and grasp its responsibility as the world's growth centre, Thai Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said Friday. Korn spoke on the opening day of a summit meeting between the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its partners China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

The meeting is being held in the shadow of anti-government protests by supporters of Thailand's fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. But inside their bubble of heavy security, the meetings were going ahead as scheduled, said Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban.

The summit is to take concrete steps to add muscle to financial systems in the region but perhaps the more important step would be that all participants are gearing up to act as mature partners in their heightened place in world economic matters, Korn said on the fringes of the meeting.

"We need to act decisively to support our economies in this crisis, but in doing so, we are taking steps for changes that may only be truly evident in 20 years' time," Korn said. "This is the time for Asia to show itself as a true economic centre."

The summit is strategically critical because Asia is a relatively bright spot amid the global financial gloom, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said in a statement Thursday.

He said he looked forward to promoting growth, free trade and protection for weak economies in discussions at the summit. The regional leaders are to also hear briefings from the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations and the Asian Development Bank.

"Asia straddles many of the most challenging developing and developed world issues facing us and is a key platform for restoring the global growth we need," Zoellick said.

The World Bank has created a 50-billion-dollar trade finance fund to combat the global credit squeeze, but there would be great interest in an extension of the Chiang Mai Initiative, an ASEAN currency swap arrangement aimed at managing liquidity problems that dates back to the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, said delegates speaking on the sidelines of the meetings.

"The Chiang Mai Initiative is extremely important for what it is and for what it represents - expanded cooperation," Korn said.

The South-East Asian countries, which are extremely vulnerable to falling exports, would be seeking to strengthen trade and investment ties with the bigger Asian economies, particularly China, to stem growing unemployment.

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. (dpa)