Timing is critical, as is communication, and let me digress for a moment on the issue of communication. It is not unusual for reforms to be agreed upon and implemented, but the communication to the rest of the world is so delayed, so inadequate, and so unfocused, that by the time the investment decision can be made, it has not been made soon enough to be able to be useful to the reform. I have brought with me some examples of some things we're doing for other countries, and while this is not a commercial, I will leave these for you only to show that other countries, as a part of the reform process, are taking into account, increasingly, the need to communicate the impact of those policies and the change in policy and legislative reform in the global context. One other caveat, and I know I will be in trouble with both The World Bank, the Fund, my friends at CIPE, and probably many of my friends in the financial business. I would urge that you don't get carried away by the free market rhetoric.
Government has a role, indeed, a critical role, in the reform process.
It is a role as partner, and, occasionally, disciplinarian. It is critical that the government institutions establish a fair and stable regulatory system, that there be a fair dispute settlement mechanism, that it is seen that the political structure is accepted, that there is a national infrastructure, both financial, legal, and economic, that is seen to be a stable one, and a fiscal and economic policy that is indeed consistent with wealth creation. Credit and investment will flow only where there is real opportunity for profit. The single most important precondition for investment is a clear set of rules of the game, which, among other things, limit the power of government to interfere with private economic decisions, and which apply equally to individuals, so that they may institutionalize their expectation. Concepts like stability, transparency, rule of law, convertibility, free markets, shareholders' rights, bankruptcy, are all aspects of this one principle.