Asian finance ministers meet here today to try to bolster their defences against another economic crisis but one of their loftiest goals — a common currency — still seems decades away at least.

Ten years after the East Asian tigers were rocked by financial turmoil following the collapse of the Thai baht, the region is trying to deepen its ties yet further to guard against a repeat of the traumatic crisis.

Finance ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as well as China, Japan and South Korea will discuss a multi-nation scheme of currency swaps to improve the existing bilateral system introduced in 2000.

"This week's meeting will see some progress on this issue but no tangible agreement is expected," said a Japanese finance ministry official.

The finance ministers of Japan, China and South Korea met Friday and pledged to step up financial cooperation to prevent regional currency turmoil.

They agreed to work on a multinational currency swap arrangement together with Southeast Asian nations that could swing into

action more quickly in the event of a currency crisis and to foster Asian bond markets.

In the wake of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 10 Asean nations plus Japan, China and South Korea agreed to set up a bilateral currency swap scheme known as the Chiang Mai Initiative in a bid to prevent a repeat of the turmoil.

Under the accord, an Asian country in financial trouble can borrow foreign currency — usually US dollars — from another country to bolster its international reserves until the crisis passes.

But some economists say the real challenge facing Asia is not how to improve defences against another financial crisis or speculative currency attacks, but how to make better use of the region's huge foreign exchange reserves.

"The situation today is completely different (to 1997). The challenge facing Asia is in fact too much reserves and the longterm negative effects of this," said Ifzal Ali, the chief economist of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

"While it is not as dramatic as a crisis, over time it does eat away at opportunities for higher rates of growth, higher investments," he told AFP in an interview ahead of the ADB's annual meeting here.

Asia holds the bulk of the world's foreign reserves at some 2.7 trillion dollars, led by China alone with more than one trillion dollars.

The ADB's governors also meet this weekend to assess the health of the Asian economies a decade after the regional crisis, as well as prospects for further financial integration and the development bank's own future.

Last year, the 10 Asean nations along with China, Japan and South Korea agreed to study the creation of a single Asian currency akin to the euro, although little progress is expected any time soon on the issue.

"It is something that is maybe — over the very long-term — a goal towards which Asia will move but I don't see that happening in the near term," Ali said of the idea of a common Asian currency.

Asean ministers are also expected to discuss efforts to develop better Asian bond markets as well as the recent appreciation of regional currencies against the dollar amid concern over the slowing US economy.

Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand andVietnam.