East Asia playing bigger role in global economy, Bush says

Source: Xinhua | 04-19-2009 08:08

BOAO, Hainan, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. President George. W. Bush said Saturday that East Asia is playing a bigger role in global economy, and the world economic center has moved from Atlantic to Asia Pacific.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush gives a keynote speech at a dinner session in Boao, a scenic town in south China’s Hainan Province, April 18, 2009. Bush gave a keynote speech on the dinner session titled "The U.S., Asia and the Future" here on Saturday. (Xinhua/Zhao Yingquan)

The Asia Pacific takes up 55 percent of the global economy, and it is of vital interest to stay "heavily engaged" with the countries in the region, he said at a banquet speech held during the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference 2009.

"That's why I have never missed a single APEC meeting when I was in office, because I know how important it is to the prosperity," he said.

"The global financial system does need reform, needs greater transparency," he noted.

"Accessible banking standard is needed to be in place to prevent over leverage. A better warning system is needed to be put into place to anticipate crisis," he said.

He said that 20 years ago, a meeting of G7 or G8 was enough to sort out the problems, since they comprised a large share of the global economy. But now they are no longer significantly large, so such a meeting has to expand to 20, said Bush.