RAWALPINDI, July 7: Economic integration in Asia is becoming increasingly important to global growth and managing shared risks in the region, according to a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) study released on Monday.

The financial crisis of 1997-98 exposed the region’s vulnerabilities and gave new impetus to regional cooperation, says the ADB study: “Emerging Asian Regionalism: A Partnership for Shared Prosperity.”

The study finds that Asian financial system has improved substantially since the crisis, saying that the region’s financial connections are deepening but Asia’s capital markets remain more closely linked to global markets than with each other.

If Asia can invest more of its vast savings within the region, many benefits will follow. Citing examples, the study says investing Asian savings would bolster the development of sophisticated investment vehicles and would help generate financial products that enable consumers and investors to use their incomes and assets more productively.

The study says the centre of gravity of the global economy is shifting to Asia where region’s gross domestic product (GDP) is already similar in size to those of Europe and North America, and its influence on the world continues to increase.

In many Asian economies, the cycle of poverty has been broken; in others, this historic aim is within sight.

Asia’s extraordinary success has brought new challenges. While rapid economic growth remains a priority, citizens demand that it also be sustainable and more inclusive.

Regional economic cooperation, a relatively new dimension of Asian development, will be essential for addressing all of these challenges. Asian economies are principally connected through markets— through trade, financial flows, direct investment, and other forms of economic and social exchange. But where markets lead, governments are following, it says.

Asian regionalism has not sought to replicate the European Union (EU), but has rather focused on finding new and flexible forms of cooperation that reflect the region’s diversity and pragmatism.