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By Celeste Fong
BEIJING: Malaysia will support any international move to regulate the global financial market.
"What is needed is a strong regulatory framework as well as internationally benchmarked standards of corporate governance, risk management and market conduct," he said.
He was speaking to reporters at the close of the two-day seventh Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) here yesterday.
Abdullah said he believed the world wanted a free market. However, a free market is always at risk from speculation and manipulation by operators and traders. "The greedy ones create problems."
He said what was important was that the Government must intervene. "I'm pro-government intervention but not excessive intervention."
To a question on Asia speaking as one voice at the Global Financial Crisis Summit in Washington next month, Abdullah said Japan had agreed to bring forward the views of the Asean+3 countries (Asean together with China, Japan and South Korea).
He said French president Nicholas Sarkozy would also raise the views exchanged between Asian and European countries, which were brought up at the latest Asem gathering.
At the meeting, Sarkozy had called for stricter government supervision of financial markets and their participants as well as the support of Asia for Europe at the mid-November meeting in Washington.
Earlier, during a closed session on global issues, Abdullah called for countries to renew their interest in agriculture.
The Prime Minister said food security goals could not be achieved without an increase in agricultural volume as well as production capacity.
Abdullah said food prices had been projected to continue rising in the short and medium terms and many countries were finding it more and more challenging to meet the basic needs of their people.
"In 2006, the international food price index increased by 9% but accelerated to a 40% increase last year and 57% in March this year," he said in his speech which was made available to the media.
"Unrest linked to high food prices has occurred in more than 30 countries."
He hoped the international response to the global food crisis would be focused on helping developing countries improve their capacity to feed themselves, to market their products and in the process, lift their people away from the cycle of poverty.
The Star/Asia News Network
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