The gathering, known as East Asian Summit (EAS) Finance Ministers' Meeting (FMM), was held on the sidelines of the 13th ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers Meeting and specifically focused on economic and financial issues, with the participation of senior officials from ASEAN countries, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry said on May 4 that the participants had a wide-ranging discussion on major economic issues facing all 16 EAS economies and discussed the work of the G20 in detail.

EAS regional cooperation and capacity building was another major focus of EAS FMM discussions on May 4, including an analysis of the first pilot round of capacity building programmes which was initiated by Australia.

According to Senator Nick Sherry, the meeting also agreed to Australia 's proposal for a second capacity building programme, which will involve a focus on structuring and restructuring financial markets, to be delivered in partnership by Australia , Malaysia and China , with Laos to host the first phase.

"The pilot saw active participation by Cambodia , Laos and Vietnam , so Australia looks forward to the second round building on these achievements," said the Assistant Treasurer.

He added that the participants also agreed to meet again in the future and for finance officials to meet more often to progress important EAS issues./.