BEIJING: The Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) could have made greater progress on economic issues if not for the problem of Myanmar, said Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong - the man who first came up with the idea for the summit.

'Whenever there was an economic meeting in recent years, the Europeans kicked up a fuss that Myanmar should not be in the meeting and so on,' he told China Central Television in an interview before tomorrow's Asem summit.

'That became a problem for both sides. So on the economic side, we could have done more.'

The West has always protested against the abysmal human rights record of Myanmar's military junta.

It was only in 2004, after successful lobbying by South-east Asian countries, that Myanmar was included in Asem.

Asked how Asem could have done more in terms of economic issues, Mr Goh said: 'We could have more programmes (to) promote trade or investments between both regions, and we could together push for an early conclusion of the Doha Round of negotiations' to lower global trade barriers.

But he praised the biennial summit's role in boosting political, social and cultural relations between the regions ever since it was first held in 1996.

Mr Goh had broached the idea of a summit for Asian and European leaders in 1994 to then-French prime minister Edouard Balladur.

This year's meeting is taking place right smack in the middle of global financial turmoil, and Mr Goh said he hoped that the leaders of the 45-member grouping would look at the sources of the problem and offer solutions as well.

'Some of those steps have already been taken. By the time the meeting takes place, those would be over.

'So it's about looking at the future. What kind of a new international global financial set-up must we have?' he said.

Mr Goh said that he did not believe that an Asian financial fund - something which Asem came up with in 1998 to deal with the Asian financial crisis - would come out of Beijing this time.

The fund, he explained, was necessary in 1998 because it had to support Asian currencies from being devalued too quickly and by too much.

The problem this time was due to weaknesses in the American financial system, such as the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, and not the over-valuation of currencies, he said.

'But unfortunately, what happened in one country, because of globalisation, had a tremendous impact on other banks elsewhere.

'So the whole network was affected. Likewise, China and Singapore are being dragged (into) the problems of the American banks,' he said.