[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 47 (Monday, November 23, 1998)]
[Page 2323]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Joint Statement by President Clinton and Prime Minister Obuchi

November 16, 1998

    Today we are pleased to announce a new multilateral initiative to 
revitalize private sector growth in Asia. Several of the countries 
hardest hit by the crisis have made great strides in recent months 
toward restoring stability. The major challenge they face today is 
restarting growth as quickly as possible. To support this effort, Japan 
and the United States, with the support of the World Bank and the Asian 
Development Bank, are launching the Asian Growth and Recovery 
Initiative.

This initiative has four main components:

First, accelerating the pace of bank and corporate restructuring by 
removing impediments to the return of growth. By mobilizing new 
financing to recapitalize banks, we aim to provide strong incentives to 
remove policy and institutional constraints that block rapid 
restructuring.

<bullet>    The Asian Growth and Recovery Program, with the support of 
            the World Bank, the ADB and bilateral contributors, will 
            help catalyze significant private financing for countries in 
            the region which have put comprehensive restructuring 
            programs in place.
<bullet>    The United States, Japan, the World Bank and the ADB are 
            working together to establish this program and identify 
            sources of funding. We will target mobilizing $5 billion in 
            bilateral and multilateral support available initially, 
            which we expect will leverage substantial new private 
            financing.

Second, increased trade finance to give Asian companies greater access 
to funds they need to revive production and create jobs. Both the 
Japanese and the United States Export-Import Banks as well as Japan 
Export and Investment Insurance (EID/MITI) will contribute to this part 
of the initiative.

Third, efforts to mobilize new private sector capital to help Asian 
companies rebuild their balance sheets and move forward quickly with 
restructuring so they can make new investments and grow again. These 
efforts will be led by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the 
Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the United States 
Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and EID/MITI.

Fourth, enhanced technical assistance, to help equip countries with the 
expertise they need to overcome the complex financial and corporate 
restructuring issues they face.

    To finalize the details of this initiative we will host a meeting in 
Tokyo shortly, bringing together senior officials and technical experts 
from the United States, Japan, and other Asian economies and the 
multilateral institutions. Japan and the United States welcome the 
participation of other economies in this initiative and encourage any 
interested economies to attend this meeting. The entire international 
community has a stake in restoring economic growth in Asia. By helping 
to accelerate the pace of restructuring and mobilizing renewed access to 
private financing, the Asian Growth and Recovery Initiative will make an 
important contribution toward that goal.

Note: An original was not available for verification of the content of 
this joint statement.