英语文摘：EU, Asia committed to more economic cooperation

MADRID, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Spain's Finance Minister Elena Salgado on Sunday said that the EU and Asia commitment to strengthening economic cooperation was a result of lessons learned from the economic crisis.

Salgado was speaking at the end of Sunday's ASEM meeting which brought together finance ministers from both parts of the world in Madrid

"The crisis has highlighted the need for greater cooperation given the global nature of our economic system. Therefore, I think that the lessons that we have learned from this crisis will make us reinforce cooperation links between Europe and the Asian countries," said Salgado, who was acting as host for the event.

The Spaniard highlighted the positive signs from the Asian economies in relation to Europe, where Spain, for example is still in recession.

"There are greater signs of recovery in the Asian continent," said Salgado. "In Europe, the signs, although positive, are still quite small. It has been shown that we are quite vulnerable to external shocks, but much less than a decade ago," she added, saying that change was down to structural reforms.

Even so, she commented that the EU must continue to better coordinate monetary policies and avoid forms of protectionism.