In fact, some Asian and Latin American countries have even floated the idea of leaving the IMF to form their own regional funds out of sheer frustration. Twenty-three of the 184 IMF member countries voted against even these two-stage reforms. Among them were Argentina, Brazil and India, who had earlier argued that these reforms might not benefit all developing countries.

On the other hand, all the developed economies lost some of their quotas notably the G-7, which by themselves commanded 45 per cent of the quotas in the old system. There appear ultimately to have been some justified re-adjustments to the international financial system, as embodied by the IMF.

But more important, the Singapore meeting carries particular significance for Asia, in three ways that could be clearly discerned.

First, Singapore's geographic location made this meeting the group's first to be held on the continent in nine years. It also came nine years after the financial crisis that shook Asia up tremendously and brought about fundamental economic, social and political changes across the whole region.

There are clearly still some misgivings about the IMF, which many Asians blamed in 1997-98 for having aggravated the crisis with "erroneous" policies.

The Singapore meeting was also undoubtedly about Asia's "re-emergence" or renaissance nine years after this crisis, as it takes a much larger share of the world economy, led by China, India, the ROK and ASEAN economies. Even Japan, the world's second-largest economy, is recovering with credible growth and an inflationary spiral after more than a decade of deflation. Without doubt, the Singapore meeting will be remembered as the consecration of an inevitable Asian comeback in world financial and economic affairs.

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