ASEAN to set up $1 billion infrastructure fund

SINGAPORE, Nov 14 - A fund to support infrastructure projects in Southeast Asian nations is expected to be set up next year with an initial capital of $1 billion, a senior official at the ASEAN regional group said on Saturday.

S. Pushpanathan, deputy secretary-general of the Association of South East Asian Nations , said Japan and China have pledged $200 million each into the "ASEAN+3 Infrastructure Fund", while South Korea pledged $100 million and the Asia Development Bank $250 million.

"We are working toward a $1 billion infrastructure fund as a start up," Pushpanathan told Reuters on the sidelines of an Asia Pacific summit in Singapore.

Finance officials from Southeast Asia are due later this month in South Korea to discuss their contributions to the fund for the remaining $250 million, he said.

At a regional summit in Thailand last month, ASEAN leaders set up a high level task force to develop a master plan and infrastructure development fund. A U.N. agency estimates $14 billion is needed to build missing transport links in the Asia-Pacific.