Japan's top finance official on Thursday declared his intention to seek bilateral currency swap arrangements with Singapore and Indonesia.
Seichiro Murakami, senior vice finance minister, also told a news conference in Honolulu of his desire to develop Asia's currency swap scheme into a regional monetary fund.
At a meeting Wednesday of finance ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as representatives from China, Japan and South Korea, Japan confirmed it has made bilateral swap agreements with Thailand, South Korea and Malaysia.
The gathering was held in Hawaii on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank.