THE region has witnessed a few ups and downs in my twelve years here, including the Asian economic crisis in 1997 when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) coughed up US$40 billion to stabilize some of the region’s currencies; and the SARS outbreak of 2002, when the World Health Organization advised against travel to, or within, much of Asia.

In both cases these measures were taken to prevent these ‘Asian’ problems turning into global contagions.

So questions are now being asked why a financial crisis precipitated in the West is being described as the worst ‘global’ recession in 70 years, when, according to a recent Newsweek article, it’s not truly global.

‘It is shrinking the richest economies, but only slowing the emerging giants… A Goldman Sachs chief economist now predicts that the BRIC’s - Brazil, Russia, India and China - could overtake the combined GDP of the G7 nations by 2027, nearly a decade sooner than (previously forecast).

’It’s a sentiment echoed by WPP Group chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell in his keynote at MIPTV, that the BRIC countries will be dominant forces as recovery gets underway.

And Media Partners Asia expects Asia’s two BRIC countries to maintain double-digit ad growth in 2009: estimating 10.9 percent in China, versus 21.8 percent in 2008, and 12.1 percent in India, versus 17.6 percent in 2008.

With those two nations within our region, and Russia just next-door, it’s heartening to think that these BRICs will form the foundation of the ‘global’ economic recovery.