JEJU (SOUTH KOREA): PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday cautioned against being too hasty in thinking the global recession has bottomed.

It will be a 'long haul ahead', he said, because there are structural issues that cannot be solved without considerable time and effort.

Mr Lee, who was speaking to leaders of Asean and South Korea, urged countries to work together in tackling the crisis and to continue reforms and consolidation.

In doing so, Asian nations can position themselves and the region to exploit the upswing when the economy recovers, he said at the summit here to mark 20 years of dialogue relations between South Korea and the regional grouping.

Mr Lee also called on countries that met at the recent G-20 summit in London to deliver on what has been committed and promised, in order to achieve progress in restoring stability and confidence to global markets.

At the April meeting, they agreed to raise the resources available to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by US$750 billion ($1.08 trillion), among other measures.

During his 10-minute address, Mr Lee first took stock of steps taken by governments and central banks worldwide in tackling the economic crisis.

In Asia, he cited the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation, a US$120 billion multi-currency Asian swap fund set up by Asean and its three dialogue partners, South Korea, China and Japan.

Said Mr Lee: 'This determined effort has calmed markets. Confidence is slowly being restored. Some have even spoken optimistically of 'green shoots', though what's happening is that things are turning bad not as fast as before,' he said.

'I believe we should not be too hasty to pronounce that the recession has bottomed or that things are getting better.'

Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of the Straits Times

kianbeng@sph.com.sg