Beijing (Xinhua): Asia should have its own monetary fund to better ensure financial stability of the region, a senior UN official has said.

"Ultimately Asia should have its own monetary fund," Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), was quoted as saying by the China Daily Saturday.

Supachai said it was necessary to further strengthen bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation in the region and a monetary fund for the Asia could better help cushion the impact of economic downturns for Asian nations.

He was speaking at the Global Think Tank Summit in Beijing Friday.

Supachai, an economist-turned politician, was Thailand's deputy prime minister and commerce minister during the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. He was elected director-general of the World Trade Organization in September 1999 and was appointed UNCTAD head in 2005.