Dec. 29 (IHT/Asahi) - Amid despondency over the global economy, the leaders of Japan, China and South Korea recently held their first trilateral summit meeting in Fukuoka. As ASEAN Plus Three members, they agreed to work more closely to tackle the global financial meltdown. 

Masahiro Kawai, Dean of the Asian Development Bank Institute, told IHT/The Asahi Shimbun in an interview that he thought the meeting was significant. He said the group should expand its currency swap agreement called the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) to $120 billion from the currently agreed $80 billion to combat a currency crisis.

For more on Kawai's comments, click here.