AlHijjah 15, 1432, Nov 11, 2011, SPA - Finance ministers from 21 Asia-Pacific economies on Thursday urged the European Union to use faster and stronger measures to tackle its debt crisis, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said. "It is crucial that Europe moves quickly to put in place a strong plan to restore financial stability," Geithner told reporters. "They're moving ahead, but we just need them to move ahead more quickly and with more force behind it," he said on behalf of finance ministers from the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation nations. Geithner said the APEC finance ministers' discussions were "overwhelmingly dominated" by the crisis in Europe, despite plans to focus on regional economic growth and free trade. "When growth is weaker in Europe it affects growth everywhere," he was quoted as saying by the German Press Agency "DPA". He said the ministers agreed that Asian economies needed to rebalance by doing "more to stimulate domestic demand growth." "This process of rebalancing will be aided by exchange-rate policies in China and other Asian economies that allow their currencies to adjust in response to market forces," Geithner said.
