By Xinhua writers Zhu Yifan, Fan Xi and Chen Yin

Emerging economies have never been in the spotlight as they are today, as they are expected to provide the power to push the globe at a time when the developed economies are struggling, to recover from the financial crisis.

For the first time, how to effectively boost emerging economies to alleviate the impact of the global stress becomes the theme of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference, at which officials, business executives and experts from different countries and regions are engaged in heated discussions.

"Don't let your neighbor collapse," said Fidel V. Ramos, BFA chairman of board of directors and former president of Philippines.

When times get rough and emerging economies strive to maintain growth, the Asian ethic of "Prosper Thy Neighbor" is an imperative, said Ramos.

Asian emerging economies have been galloping in the past decades. In East Asia, China achieved spectacular growth in 30 years. In South Asia, India's software and automobile industries broke into to the world market. Asia is dubbed as the engine to drive forward the world economy.

The financial stress starting from developed countries has nonetheless challenged Asian countries. Sluggish exports, shrinking investment and demand, fewer jobs and lower income plagued many emerging economies.

In its latest forecast in March, the World Bank has lowered the estimated gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 20 East Asian and Pacific developing economies this year down by 1.4 percentage points to 5.3 percent.

In the eyes of the participants to the forum, cooperation should be typed in bold letter when emerging economies in Asia seek the way out of the grim picture.

Zeng Peiyan, BFA's vice chairman of board of directors, said the financial authorities of Asian countries need to strengthen information exchange and communication between each other, in order to better monitor global capital flow and avoid the rippling of financial risks.

Zeng, former Chinese vice premier, also noted that Asian countries should increase mutual investment and expand trade to make up for the gap of reduced demand from the American and European markets.

Asia itself is going to provide a growing market for the region's economy, Bob Hawke, former Australian prime minister, echoed Zeng's opinion when interviewed by Xinhua at the forum.

"Intra-Asian trade would increase," he estimated. "The most important thing is ...that they do not lapse back into protectionism. That is the worst thing that could happen."

Internal trade and investment in Asia is indeed increasing. Despite the impact of the financial crisis, mutual investment between China and ASEAN countries kept expanding and approached 60 billion U.S. dollars by the end of last year. The two sides were endeavoring to build a China-ASEAN free trade area, to be completed in 2010, which would boost overall cooperation of East Asia.

"If a free trade zone can be established in East Asia or even in Asia as a whole, the advantages are obvious �C with 3.8 billion people, or 62 percent of the world's population, Asia has substantial potentials in its production and consumption," said Chen Zhiwu, a professor of Yale University.

The new round of growth, as Ramos estimated, would come from the substantial progress in regional economic integration, and cooperation at common field such as water resources, energy, environment and food security inside Asia.

Taking a step forward, Asian economies should think about how to boost their influence amid the reform of global financial system, and seek mutual interests during this vital era, when the world's layout of financial powers started to change, said Fan Gang, director of the National Economics Research Institute of China Reform Foundation.

Asia's heavy reliance on the U.S. market should, to a larger extent, be attributed to the U.S. dollar-dominated international monetary system, said Fan.

Asian economies are gaining weight in international financial system, with large volume of foreign exchange reserves and a relatively healthy economy.

The proposal to allow larger representation and voting rights for developing countries in international financial institutions, raised by China at the G20 summit in London, was echoed by emerging economies such as Russia, India and Brazil.

As most forum representatives have seen, if the Asian economies want to change the crisis into chances, they should build a growth pattern which is more balanced between domestic demand and export.

In order to achieve such a goal, Asian economies have to make strenuous efforts in domestic reform. Anyway, "the emerging market stands for the future of world economy," said Long Yongtu, secretary-general of the BFA.