This second part of a two-volume set provides a background and overview to the issues surrounding the monetary and financial co-operation in East Asia. The volume traces the increased interest in regional monetary and financial co-operation and the resulting initiatives such as the ASEAN Surveillance Process, the ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers Process including its Chiang Mai Initiative of 2000, the Manila Framework Group, and the Asia-Europe Finance Ministers Process, to name a few. These developments in some ways represent a significant break from the past. Going forward, the key challenge is how to set priorities and sequence developments so as to smooth the path to a new regional financial architecture.