President Lee Myung-bak stressed close coordination between countries as the key to overcome the global financial crisis at the 12th ASEAN+3 Summit held in Dusit Thani Hua Hin Hotel in Thailand on Saturday, October 24. The leaders of Korea, China, Japan and 10 ASEAN countries exchanged opinions on a wide range of issues including the economic crisis, climate change and food and energy security.

President Lee, after explaining the results of the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh last September, underlined the importance of international cooperation to overcome the global financial crisis. He further called for ASEAN+3 member states to be more prompt in the early launch of the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) referring to a formation of a US$120 billion fund system to counter the financial crisis within the region.