Asia needs a total of about 8 trillion USD of infrastructural investment in the coming decade, which is adequate to 750 billion USD a year, said an Asian Development Bank economic expert.

Speaking at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong on Jan. 21, Chief Economist Lee Jong-hwa said the need for investment in infrastructure had been ever more urgent due to the slowdown of private investment in the financial crisis.

There is still a lack of funding for needed infrastructural construction in Asia and the public-private partnership, Lee said, could be one of the solutions.

Infrastructure investment is clearly an urgent need as Asian countries are working up a plan to escape impacts of the global financial crisis that shook the world over the last two years.

The economy page of Le Figaro, a French daily, on Jan. 21 ran an article saying Asia is gradually pulling itself out of crisis and currently guiding the recovery of the world economy. International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn praised business initiatives and experience of Asia , saying they are lessons worth learning./.