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Interview: Precise roadmap needed for Asia-Europe financial connectivity: Boao Forum for Asia chief

Xinhua, November 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Asia-Europe countries and areas have built consensus on financial connectivity, but the next key steps are to communicate ideas, implement decisions and design a feasible roadmap, said Zhou Wenzhong, Secretary General of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), in an interview with Xinhua.

The Boao Forum was launched by the BFA expert committee on financial cooperation last week. As one of the major think tanks of BFA, the committee will provide suggestions and ideas related to finance to policy makers.

The forum offers a platform to discuss global topics and gathers views to form valuable opinions and suggestions for policy makers, he said.

Common ground has been found globally on China's "Belt and Road Initiative", which is expected to drive economic growth. However, the main challenge will be financing issues: how to fine new ways to raise funds.

In this context, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is doing an important job, Zhou said.

Asia-Europe financial cooperation is to finance the "Belt and Road Initiative", but it will be a long road to connect the finance systems between the two continents, he said.

The key point is to open up the capital market mutually. China is going a step further to deepen reform and open up to foreign investments, Zhou emphasized.

He said immediate goals include defining the roles of governments and companies, how to coordinate the policies and form short-term and long-term plans.

Zhou explained there were more and more bilateral mechanisms including currency swap agreements, clearing and settlement agreements and financial supervision. However, it is difficult to establish multilateral mechanisms between continents like Asia and Europe at present. It will take a long time to expand the mechanisms from bilateral to multilateral cooperation.

The BFA financial cooperation conference began in London on Tuesday, bringing together more than 400 government officials, business leaders and academics from 22 Asian and European countries and regions.

It was the first international forum on financial cooperation between Asia and Europe following Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Britain, during which China and the Britain reached consensus and expressed interest for cooperation in a broad range of areas. Endit