Continued high oil prices over the next couple of years are the greatest potential danger facing Asian economies and oil exporters such as Malaysia according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The current high oil prices will affect the growth prospects of many countries in the region if this trend continues for one or two yeas.
As concluded at the ADB's conference, held in Istanbul , despite rapid economic growth in the region, small and medium-sized countries risk being left behind, unless their economies are integrated with Asia's giants.
The greatest challenge that Asia faces is that of co-operation and integration. This is because Asia has huge countries and also many small and medium-sized economies. Thus economic integration is key for their economies to continue to grow and continue to be effective in the global market
A new department in the ADB, the Office of Regional Economic Integration, has been created to work exclusively on making the economies of Asia work together more efficiently
11-May-05 
