##ting the risk of debt distress. ladies and gentlemen, even as we focus on dealing with the fall - out from the ongoing global economic crisis, we should not lose sight that our world is being reshaped by a number of megatrends. one such megatrend is the rise of the new superpowers of asia and the southern hemisphere. these emerging nations of brazil, russia, india, and china, or as they are more popularly known, the brics, are already major players in the world economy. they have 40 per cent of the world ’ s population spread out over three continents and already account for 25 per cent of global gdp. the brics are forming new south - south connections, reshaping emerging market and developing countries ’ engagement with the rest of the world. in the process, the brics are bis central bankers ’ speeches helping to create a new southern silk road, linking asia, the middle east, africa and latin america and the caribbean, and signaling the return of the centre of the world economy ’ s centre of gravity back to its origins. in a january 2011 research report entitled “ the world in 2050 ” karen ward, an economist with hsbc, predicts the following seismic shifts by the year 2050 : • the collective size of economies we currently deem „ emerging ’ will have increased five - fold and will be larger than the developed world ; • 19 of the 30 largest economies will be from the emerging world ; indeed, china and india will be the largest and third - largest economies in the world, respectively ; • several other emerging economies – most notably, mexico, turkey, indonesia, egypt, malaysia, thailand, colombia and venezuela – will make substantial progress up the global league table ; • some small - population, ageing, rich economies in europe such as switzerland and the netherlands will slip down the grid significantly, while sweden, belgium, austria, norway and denmark drop out of the top 30 altogether. these trends make it even more imperative for trinidad and tobago to build and strengthen south - south relationships during the current global crisis to help us withstand future economic pressures in our traditional markets. in this regard, i remain convinced that international trade is a key instrument to building more robust and enduring relationships across countries. as a small, highly open island economy, trade is very important to trinidad and tobago, with the value of imports and exports of goods and services equivalent to 100 per cent of gdp. international trade allows us to import ideas and technologies

jwala rambarran : trinidad and tobago – reinforcing dialogue with the private sector feature address by mr jwala rambarran, governor of the central bank of trinidad and tobago, at the inaugural monetary policy forum with the penal / debe chamber of commerce, debe, 18 december 2013. * * * ladies and gentlemen, today is another historic day for the region of penal / debe. for the first time in nearly 50 years the central bank has ventured outside of its traditional comfort zone in port of spain, arriving at penal / debe to deliver its monetary policy message. i must, therefore, thank the penal / debe chamber of commerce for graciously agreeing to host our inaugural monetary policy forum. we intend to meet with other chambers of commerce across trinidad and in tobago to host similar events. i strongly believe that, especially in these unusual times, greater dialogue with the private sector is critical. such insights feed into the central bank ’ s understanding of the workings of the trinidad and tobago economy, and thus into our policy deliberations. equally important, these events allow the bank to explain the thinking behind its monetary policy actions and to account to the national community, who we are here to serve. so, why did we choose penal / debe as our first port of call? on reflection, the answer seems self evident. the region of penal / debe is demonstrating the type of self - sustaining economic growth that the entire country requires at this point in time. such economic growth is being manifested through both the expansion of existing companies and the creation of new ones. it reflects increasing confidence among businesses and entrepreneurs. as you drive along the ss erin road under almost every home is a small business, from furniture shops that i understand supply big furniture chains in port of spain, to large home town supermarkets. at least four new outdoor shopping complexes have been constructed in the community. the construction of one of government ’ s mega project – the uwi south campus – is expected to drive growth in the area, as government looks to create a second education city centred on this campus in the penal / debe area. construction of a metal industries company training facility on petrotrin lands a few miles away will also help generate technical and vocational opportunities in the area. this building – the nesc debe campus – opened in october 2012 year and has already graduated 72 students in it and autotronics. it is the only microsoft certified training facility in the country. and it would