. i hope that these thoughts on basel ii have been of interest, and possibly have brought out some aspects that may not have been picked up on before. from what i have said it should be clear, at the very least, that basel ii is not some abstract regulatory compliance issue of no real value to the banking industry. on the contrary, it ’ s based very much on emerging best practices in the risk management arena globally, and the objective is to try to encourage the wider spread of these best practices around the banking community worldwide. as regards hong kong, embracing the new accord can only further strengthen our position as one of the world ’ s leading international financial centres.

real convergence, the 2 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches development gaps across the regions of romania have actually increased. such a status quo is not beneficial, for instance, in the context of euro adoption, as it favours asymmetric shocks and uneven effects of public policies. these imbalances can be mitigated, first and foremost, through investment in infrastructure. for instance, the construction of highways is essential for connecting romania ’ s regions, encouraging regional trade and investment, with favourable effects on regional development and cohesion inside the country. 3. looking for a way out of a labour market dilemma another area that deserves particular attention is the labour market, at a time when the romanian one is facing considerable challenges. as a catching - up open economy, within a european union based on the free movement of capital and labour, our country was bound to find itself in a dilemma sooner or later. more precisely, there are contradictory arguments with regard to the adequate path of the wage level in the romanian economy. on the one hand, wages should be governed by productivity dynamics, so as not to erode the competitive position. on the other hand, they cannot be considerably below those in other economies, as this would simply result in a labour force drain, with dramatic consequences if not addressed quickly. specifically, we are facing an emigration problem today, as more than three million romanians ( a significant percentage of the population ) have left their homeland for other eu member states. therefore, to limit emigration, wages should increase. as noted above, the only way to do that without hindering competitiveness is to boost productivity. foreign direct investment has helped total factor productivity in recent years, yet if wages reach too high levels, attracting investment may become a problem. we therefore need to ensure that wage levels are compatible with attracting investors, but at the same time acknowledging that, at least in certain areas, wages need to go up at present, in order to mitigate the labour force drain that affects the private and public sectors alike. however, pay rises in the private sector should not be triggered only by an increase in public sector wages. while raising the minimum wage has been necessary, we should be very careful not to hurt employers, as they represent an important engine of the economy. the key is, in my opinion, to increase wages at an adequate, sustainable pace, in order for romanians to ultimately benefit from an improved living climate reflected in a higher purchasing power, but also from preserved macroeconomic