Last year, I announced three initiatives to further improve the efficiency and liquidity of the Singapore Dollar bond markets. We have made good progress since. The provision of swap liquidity to primary dealer banks handling Singapore Dollar debt issuance for corporations is fully operational. MAS is now able to support swap transactions at market-determined rates. The Singapore Dollar corporate bond securities lending facility will become operational by June this year. The facility will provide market makers an avenue to borrow securities and make prices more freely. The price discovery initiative to provide end-of-day prices for Singapore Dollar corporate bonds was completed in June last year. This price transparency has already spurred industry-led efforts to create a Singapore Dollar corporate bond index which market participants could use as a benchmark for investment management. MAS supports these efforts. Infrastructure finance A relatively new thrust in our financial sector strategy is infrastructure finance. Infrastructure is a sector ripe with opportunity. However, private sector participation has so far been muted due to the shortage of “bankable” projects and risks that the private sector alone is not equipped to mitigate. The financing gap will be compounded by new regulations restricting bank lending, which is still the primary form of infrastructure financing in Asia. Singapore is working in partnership with a diverse group of stakeholders, to help address these challenges. •  We are working with the World Bank to identify and develop bankable projects in Asia.

Today, we can look back on a period of more than three years in which the ECB has successfully pursued a stability-oriented single monetary policy serving more than 300 million citizens. And we all have the tangible proof of Monetary Union in our pockets, following a highly successful cash changeover process which represents another historic milestone in the process of European monetary integration. Indeed, already now the level of cash payments in euro is close to 100% in all the countries of the euro area. This means that the cash changeover can be considered as good as complete, i.e. well before 28 February, after which date the legacy currencies of the euro will no longer be legal tender in any euro area country. Together with the Treaties founding the European Communities, the Maastricht Treaty is one of the most important and visionary legal texts in the history of the European integration process. With the euro, the Treaty offered tangible proof of what the vision of European Union is about, namely bringing the people of Europe closer together and ultimately facilitating their lives. Having been instrumental in laying the foundations for the euro, the Maastricht Treaty will remain vital and indispensable for the successful functioning of EMU. The medium-term macroeconomic policy framework laid down in the Maastricht Treaty has contributed to a stable macroeconomic environment, and will continue to do so. In addition, the Treaty provides for a clear allocation of responsibilities between EU institutions and Member States, as well as clear mandates for all involved.