VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Sept 6): Negotiations on the establishment of an Asian monetary fund are underway, and it should not be considered as an alternative, but a complement to the existing international financial institutions, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said in an interview with RIA Novosti and RT.

The prime minister said that he had proposed to set up such a fund precisely because of the belief that there must be alternative mechanisms to complement and sometimes also to counteract pressure, adding that there is no need for competition, reported Sputnik.

"We have discussed this seriously within Asean and with China to lay the possibility; I raised it with the prime minister of Japan. The negotiations are taking place.

“It is more challenging and complex, and you know, anything new which is seen to be not necessarily a challenge but then an alternative to the established international financial infrastructure is also seen with some suspicion, which I do not believe should be so, because we are now providing alternative mechanisms that do not necessarily displace but complement," Anwar said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

The EEF began on Tuesday and will run through Friday. It is being hosted by the Far Eastern Federal University in Russia's Pacific coast city of Vladivostok. Sputnik is the general information partner of the EEF 2024.

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