The ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), and the Fondo Latinoamericano de Reservas (FLAR) jointly convened a high-level seminar on the role of RFAs in the GFSN on 6 October 2016 in Washington D.C. The seminar was attended by Dr Chang Junhong, Director of AMRO, Mr Klaus Regling, Managing Director of ESM, Ms Ana María Carrasquilla, Chairman of the Board and Executive President of FLAR, Mr Abdulrahman Al Hamidy, Director General Chairman of the Board, Arab Monetary Fund, Mr Gurumoorthy Mahalingam, Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India representing the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement, Mr Dmitry Pankin, Chairman of the Management Board, Eurasian Development Bank, Mr Servaas Deroose, Deputy DirectorGeneral for the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the European Commission.

In addition, Mr Guillaume Chabert, Co-Chair of the G20 International Financial Architecture Working Group and Mr Seungwook Lee, Director of International Monetary System Division at the Korean Ministry of Finance (on behalf of Korean G20 co-chair, Mr Seoungho Jin) and Mr Siddharth Tiwari, Director of Strategy, Policy and Review Department of the International Monetary Fund participated in the discussion. All participants openly shared their views on a number of topics pertaining to RFAs: history, mandate and development status of each RFA, RFAs’ assistance toolbox, financing terms, and conditionality, as well as cooperation between RFAs and IMF and among RFAs themselves.

The further strengthening of a multi-layered Global Financial Safety Net is critical to secure global macroeconomic and financial stability in the context of weak global economic recovery and high volatility of capital flows. As an indispensable component of the GFSN, RFAs also need to strengthen their collaboration with the IMF and among themselves, in order to create synergy and enhance the effectiveness of the GFSN.

The participants agreed that there is great potential for the different layers of the GFSN to advance cooperation in areas of economic surveillance, crisis management, research, capacity building and technical assistance. Moving forward, participants agreed to convene this high-level dialogue among RFAs, the G20 IFA Working Group and the IMF on an annual basis, at the margins of the IMF annual meetings. In addition, a research seminar focusing on key issues related to RFAs will be organised on an annual basis. Participants also welcome other regional financing institutions to join this initiative.