FINANCE Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam will attend the 11th Asean+3 Finance Ministers' Meeting and 41st Asian Development Bank Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors in Madrid from May 4 to 5.

The Asean Finance Ministers will be discussing regional financial initiatives including the creation of a multilateralised Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI) lending facility to address short term liquidity crises in future, as well as a new roadmap for the Asian Bond Markets Initiative (ABMI) to streamline ongoing efforts to strengthen regional bond markets.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors will focus on issues affecting the region, including the current risks posed by a global economic slowdown and rise in inflation. It will also discuss the ADB's annual report for 2007 and the ADB's Budget for 2008.