亚元是构想中的亚洲的共同货币，构想来自于欧元，这个概念最早由日本提出。东亚人口众多（估计将有20亿人使用），经济实力不容小觑，日本希望以亚元来集成东亚经济，成为实现亚洲共同货币的第一步，可降低成本，增加流通性。

2001年，中日韩与东南亚国协10个国家签署货币交换协定，目前上述国家之间已签署了16份双边货币交换协定。

2008年10月中旬中、日、韩三国财政官员将赴华盛顿出席会议进行协商，并将研商设立800亿美元「亚洲共同基金」。将创建东亚货币基金，进而创建类似欧元的「亚元」，制衡美元、欧元，平衡全球经济结构。

The Asian Monetary Unit (AMU) is a basket of currencies proposed by the Japanese government's Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI). It is similar to the European Currency Unit (ECU), predecessor to the euro.

The Asian Monetary Unit, which has been created as the joint project of 21st century COE project of Hitotsubashi University and RIETI, is a common currency basket composed of 13 East Asian currencies, such as ASEAN 10 plus Japan, China and South Korea. These data have been published on the website of RIETI since September 2005. After 4 years passed, a common currency basket composed of 13 AMU currencies plus three other countries, Australia, New Zealand and India, which are strongly connected with Asian countries, is newly created as "AMU-wide". The AMU-wide, which is a common currency basket composed of wider range of currencies, will be expected to utilise as a surveillance indicator corresponding to the extensive regional economies.