Finance ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as China, Japan and South Korea agreed yesterday on the minimum scale of a regional foreign reserve swap.

"We also agreed that the total size of the multilateralized CMI would be at least US$80 billion," finance chiefs from the 10-member ASEAN and three East Asian countries said in a joint statement after concluding a meeting under the framework called ASEAN+3 yesterday. (link to article)

One more example of the stuff going on in Asia while the U.S. is occupied playing in the sandbox of the Middle East. The article above is a good read also on the basics of the Chiang Mai Initiative, ASEAN financial issues, and why all of this is the direct result of the Asian Financial Crisis.