East Asian countries have agreed to take necessary steps to upgrade the region's first economic and financial surveillance body, AMRO, to the status of an international organization.

At a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Finance Minister Meeting (AFMM) in Brunei from April 1-4, finance and central bank deputies from 13 East Asian countries affirmed the need to enhance the position and power of AMRO to the same level as those of financial institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The issue will also be tabled in the ASEAN + 3 (ASEAN plus China, Japan and the Republic of Korea ) Finance Minister Meeting in May, within the framework of the ADB’s annual meeting.

AMRO, found on April 2011, aims at monitoring and analysing the regional economies, as well as overseeing the implementation of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM) Agreement which took effect in 2010.-VNA