In June of this year, the preference clause favouring Swiss employees was abolished. A company in Switzerland may now employ EU nationals without first having to prove that an equally qualified person could not be found for the position in the country. Thanks to the agreement on the free movement of persons between Switzerland and the EU, Switzerland now has access to an extensive highly-trained workforce. It has not yet been possible to estimate just how much of this potential will be used. Up until now, there has been no major influx of people into Switzerland, although this may be attributable in part to the weak labour demand, which in turn is due to the current economic situation. In the medium term, we expect the proportion of labour coming from the EU to Switzerland to increase. However, opening up the Swiss labour market also gives rise to fears. People are concerned that Swiss salary levels will come under pressure and that employment conditions will deteriorate. In an effort to counteract any serious repercussions on the Swiss labour market, the authorities have implemented a number of accompanying measures. These, however, will not be able to completely prevent competitive pressures in Switzerland from intensifying. The attempt to avert any wage adjustments by introducing minimum wages across the board, for instance, would be counterproductive. Switzerland would be unable to benefit from the opportunities that this opening up presents. The Swiss labour market would become less flexible, and the country would lose one of its most crucial locational advantages.

Zeti Akhtar Aziz: Malaysia’s experience in strengthening its market for global sukuk activities Keynote address by Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia, at the 2nd Malaysian Islamic Finance – Issuers and Investors Forum 2007 "Malaysia as Global Sukuk Centre: Towards Greater Vibrancy of Malaysian Sukuk Market", Kuala Lumpur, 13 August 2007. The original speech, which contains various links to the documents mentioned, can be found on the Central Bank of Malaysia’s website. *  *  *  It gives me great pleasure to speak at the 2nd Malaysian Islamic Finance – Issuers and Investors Forum 2007 that brings together industry practitioners and investors to discuss recent developments and key issues in Islamic finance. Islamic financial markets in particular, have experienced significant evolution and rapid expansion. We are now seeing the emergence of highly innovative products and services in sukuk market. My remarks today will focus on the vast growth potential of the global sukuk market and Malaysia's experience in strengthening our market for Global Sukuk activities. Vast growth potential for sukuk The growing role of Islamic finance in mobilising and channelling funds to productive investment activities across borders contributes to more efficient allocation of funds across borders and facilitates international trade and investment. Greater diversification of risks also contributes towards promoting international financial stability. The more recent developments in Islamic finance is the growing significance of the sukuk market to become an increasingly important component of the Islamic financial system.