Brady Confers with Japanese Minister in Effort to Reassure World's Markets
WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady met with Japanese Finance Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto to try to reassure international financial markets, particularly after recent sharp declines in the Tokyo stock market and in the yen.</br></br>In a joint statement after their meeting, the two financial leaders said that they "reaffirmed their commitment to economic policy coordination, including cooperation in the exchange markets."</br></br>In recent weeks, Japan and, to a lesser extent, the U.S. have intervened in foreign exchange markets to try to hold down the stronger dollar and prop up the weaker yen. But in briefings after the meeting, U.S. Treasury officials didn't outline any further specific steps the two men had agreed on during their five-hour talk Friday in Los Angeles.</br></br>Mr. Brady and Mr. Hashimoto met prior to a gathering of financial leaders of the Group of Seven industrial countries April 7 in Paris. The so-called G-7, which includes the U.S., Japan, West Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Canada, strives to coordinate those nations' macroeconomic policies.</br></br>In their Friday discussions, the two men covered a variety of issues, including a proposed capital increase for the International Monetary Fund; continuing talks on barriers to the bilateral economic relationship; and the planned European Bank for Reconstruction & Development, which will lend to emerging democracies in Eastern Europe.