APEC vows to fend off euro woes

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia: Pacific Rim leaders pledged yesterday to fend off the deepening damage from the European crisis and revive flagging growth in the region by supporting open trade, reforming their economies and strengthening public finances.
The 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum wrapped up an annual summit in this far eastern Russian seaport yesterday, vowing to work together to support growth and restore confidence in shaken financial markets.
"Our work was constructive. We have specific results and I am satisfied with the outcome of the work," Russian President Vladimir Putin said of the event, which showcased Moscow's ambitions to expand trade and business along its long-neglected Pacific coast.
The leaders issued a statement welcoming European leaders' promises to help stabilize the crisis-stricken euro region and warning against "excess volatility" and distortions in financial markets. The APEC leaders said they would work to reduce deficits and imbalances in their countries' own finances.
"The events in Europe are adversely affecting growth in the region. In such circumstances, we are resolved to work collectively to support growth and foster financial stability, and restore confidence," the statement said.
"We remain committed to reducing imbalances by strengthening deficit economies' public finances with sound and sustainable policies that take into account evolving economic conditions," it said.
Despite signs that robust growth in the dynamic Asia-Pacific has been sapped by reduced demand for the region's exports, Putin described the attitude among his fellow leaders as one of "constrained optimism."
Asia, generally, is not as heavily burdened as Europe with soaring social welfare costs, he said.
"There is nothing like the burden that exists in Europe," Putin said, though he acknowledged that the region faces many problems.
Given APEC's role as a consensus led forum, the annual summit did not advance any major new policy initiatives. The leaders' statement mostly endorsed earlier calls for freer trade, combatting corruption and allowing exchange rates to fluctuate more freely.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund wants a role in the "design and monitoring" of a new European Central Bank sovereign bond-buying scheme, the IMF chief said yesterday.
"We are keen to help, we're always ready to respond to members' demands," Managing Director Christine Lagarde said after attending the APEC meetings in Vladivostok.
"Clearly when we get involved, we want to be involved in the design and monitoring of programs," she told reporters. "We don't particularly want to do monitoring without having participated actively in the design."
The ECB last week announced a massive sovereign bond buy-up program designed to avert a breakup of the European monetary union amid an escalating debt crisis.
ECB chief Mario Draghi said the central bank would intervene on the secondary market to buy unlimited volumes of bonds with maturities of up to three years, in an effort to pull down struggling governments' borrowing rates.
Vowing to "do whatever it takes" to keep the euro zone together, Draghi said he would seek the IMF's involvement in setting country-specific conditions for the program, as well as help in monitoring.