More than 30 central bankers will attend a monthly meeting of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on Monday, and 11 will gather on Tuesday under the auspices of the Executives' Meeting of East Asia and Pacific Central Banks (EMEAP).

But no major concrete actions are expected to emerge from the meetings, an international monetary source said.

The central bankers were likely to examine how to avoid a recurrence of the Asian financial crisis and how to prevent the current regional situation from worsening, said Sayuri Ito, a senior economist at the Industrial Bank of Japan.

Another Tokyo economist, who asked not to be identified, said participants would exchange notes on the steps they had taken to contain the storm of currency instability that has buffeted regionaleconomies since last year.

"I think they will mainly exchange information on how much progress Asian nations have made since the measures were applied, and what sort of outlook they have on the crisis," the economist said.

Ito said countries hit by the crisis could report on how cross-border capital transactions were being monitored, and how domestic financing activities were being carried out.

Participants of the meeting, to be hosted by Bank of Japan governor Masaru Hayami, will include BIS president Alfons Verplaetse, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, Bundesbank president Hans Tietmeyer and Wim Duisenberg, president of the European Central Bank (ECB).

In addition to the regional crisis, economists said the role of the euro in Asia could also become a major topic of discussion.

"For the time being, central banks and investors are quite optimistic about the euro compared to the yen, which is in a weaker position due to problems in the financial sector," said Hideki Hayashi, chief economistat the Japan Centre for International Finance. "It is likely that European delegates will promote the euro to Asian businesses and central banks as a foreign reserve currency," Hayashi said.

The Tokyo economist said that while no radical action was expected from the meetings, the fact the BIS and EMEAP gatherings were being held back-to-back was itself significant.

"BIS is interested in having closer ties with EMEAP. It also acknowledges the Japan-led Asian presence within BIS, especially after it let countries such as South Korea join last year," he said.

The EMEAP gathering will group the central bank chiefs of Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

The BIS meeting will be the first held by the central bank of central banks outside Europe -- but the venue was decided last year, before the Asian crisis broke out.

The Basle-based BIS has no direct enforcement powers, but the recommendations produced by its committeesdealing with matters like banking and currency issues are taken seriously by the world's financial community.