mr. ferguson remarks on the challenge of preparing for the year 2000 remarks by mr. roger w. ferguson, jr., a member of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, at the global year 2000 summit in london on 16 / 10 / 98. it is a pleasure to speak with you today in my role as chairman of the joint year 2000 council. these summits are highly valuable as a forum for sharing information and fostering a shared sense of purpose. today, i would like to reinforce the importance of the year 2000 challenge, describe some of the work of the joint year 2000 council, and suggest some actions that you might wish to undertake in order to help your firms, your countries, and the world to prepare for the century date change. year 2000 challenge in the context of current financial turmoil in the past weeks we have heard much about the current challenges facing the global financial system. national economies and international capital markets are facing turmoil, with liquidity and risk being repriced rapidly. recession is impacting significant numbers of nations, and even the world ’ s strongest economies are facing unusual threats to continued healthy growth. these uncertain economic times create a difficult backdrop for keeping the appropriate level of focus on long - term challenges, such as the year 2000 problem. without in any way diminishing the importance and urgency of the immediate financial challenges, i do want to emphasize the importance of giving continued attention to the challenge of completing preparations for the year 2000. this may seem like a somewhat arcane topic to discuss as world financial markets struggle to right themselves. however, the current global financial upset has reminded us that the world is truly interdependent and that counterparty and country risks can be, and are, re - evaluated quickly. an exchange rate problem that started in a small economy in southeast asia has, within a little more than one year, created a contagion that may potentially impact the growth performance, as well as financial performance, in the most highly developed industrial economies. similarly year 2000 problems, if not addressed, remedied and planned for, can have unexpected spillover effects. because of this interconnectedness, it is most urgent that we complete our year 2000 preparations and provide full information to the public so that markets are not surprised and can operate as smoothly as possible during the crossover to the new century. it is natural to turn attention to the immediate and very real financial problems ; but those in this room, and many others, can provide an

peter pang : policies adopted by authorities in different jurisdictions with respect to international reserves welcoming remarks by mr peter pang, deputy chief executive of the hong kong monetary authority, at the international monetary fund independent evaluation office ( ieo ) / hong kong institute for monetary research ( hkimr ) workshop, hong kong, 24 march 2011. * * * it is a pleasure to welcome all of you to this event co - hosted by the hong kong institute for monetary research ( hkimr ) and the independent evaluation office of the imf. the hkimr, as some of you already know, is a subsidiary of the hong kong monetary authority. its objectives are to promote research on longer - term and wider policy issues of relevance to the monetary and financial development of hong kong and the asia region ; and to foster cooperation and cross - fertilisation of research efforts between academics, international financial institutions and the hkma research activities. for this reason we are particularly pleased to co - sponsor this workshop which deals with the important topic of policies adopted by authorities in different jurisdictions with respect to international reserves and with the advice the imf gives in this regard in its consultations with policy authorities. the accumulation of international reserves has become one of the issues at the center of debates about the functioning of the current international monetary system as well as about reforms of this system. one lesson that authorities in this part of the world drew from the financial crisis in the late 1990s was that strong policy fundamentals are not always enough to guard against the vagaries of international capital flows. a sizable cushion of international reserves is important as a buffer to guard against sudden changes in market sentiments that can lead to capital outflows and pressures on the currency. starting shortly after the asian financial crisis reserves were thus accumulated in the region to build up such buffers. but holding large amounts of reserves is of course costly as they are typically invested in highly liquid assets with relatively low yields compared with some alternative uses of the funds. it is partly for this reason that authorities in the region have taken steps to create a mechanism for pooling some of their reserves in the form of the chiang mai initiative which started in year 2000 and its multilateral extension which was agreed on in 2010. while the size of the pool of reserves under the chiang mai agreement is relatively modest compared to the potential needs for some of the larger economies in the region, the importance of the agreement goes far beyond the aggregate amount of reserves involves. it reflects a desire by authorities in