Thanong said after returning from Austria, where he attended the seventh Asem Finance Ministerial Meeting, that the gathering had called for the constant disclosure of information by ministers about each member country's oil production and reserves, to facilitate the formulation of future oil strategies.

Finance ministers met on April 8-9 in Vienna to discuss financial cooperation between the two regions. Thanong said among the topics discussed were rising oil prices, rising interest rates, bird-flu epidemics and natural disasters.

Thanong said the group had endorsed the strategic energy plan presented by the European Commission, which explores how to cope with future global energy problems.

Members also agreed to follow the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering in regard to preventing the funding of terrorist acts through money laundering. European finance ministers also asked the Burmese government to speed up the adoption of international standards for preventing international money laundering.

Thailand, meanwhile, told the meting that the Kingdom placed high priority on economic and social reform. Thanong informed the gathering of key policies like the mega-projects, bilateral free-trade talks, strengthening the economy at the grass-roots level via education reform and the Bt30 universal healthcare programme.

The ministers also supported new ventures such as the Asian Development Bank's Carbon Market Initiative and a proposal to cooperate on Asem-member customs standards.

It was also agreed that the Finance Ministerial Meeting should be held every two years, with South Korea hosting the next one in 2008. However, senior officials from Asem countries will meet annually.