A foreign-currency reserve pool is to be officially created according to an agreement signed on Dec 28 by China, Japan, South Korea, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Monetary Authority of Hong Kong.

This multilateral monetary facility is a result from the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization, which Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and other Asian leaders first called for in 2003.

Originally about a currency swapping mechanism to protect the region from increasing risks in global business, the plan has grown larger in the following years, from a currency reserve of $80 billion to the current $120 billion.