to remind you not to overlook the region that is strategically - positioned between these two giants – the ten southeast asian countries which form asean. let me elaborate. a revitalised asean asean is being revitalised. in response to the asian financial crisis, asean countries took concrete steps to tackle weaknesses in their financial and corporate sectors and implemented structural reforms. these reforms have strengthened asean ’ s economic fundamentals and financial stability. more importantly, asean has made two important strategic moves : • first, deepening linkages with external partners ; and • second, accelerating intra - asean integration. enhancing links with external partners asean has stepped up its links and integration with external players and major trading partners. asean regards china and india as two powerful engines which will help the region lift off. asean has already started negotiations for free trade agreements ( ftas ) with both china and india. we target to complete them by 2010 and 2011 respectively. these ftas will provide even greater connectivity and opportunities for businesses. they will increase trade and investment flows. besides china and india, asean is also enhancing links with other economic centres. asean signed a regional trade and investment framework arrangement ( tifa ) with the us last august. it is negotiating ftas with japan, south korea and australia and new zealand. and last week, asean and the european union decided to launch fta talks. this shows that asean is confident and outward - looking. these agreements will form the economic spokes radiating from the asean hub. accelerating asean integration asean knows that the hub itself must be strengthened if it was to grow and benefit from external linkages. hence, asean is pressing ahead with closer and deeper economic integration, and strengthening the organisation politically. this will also help asean to overcome the challenges of globalisation and global economic competition. our aim is to transform asean into the third engine of growth in asia. to do this, asean has advanced the target date of establishing an asean economic community from 2020 to 2015. asean leaders will, at their summit in singapore in november, issue a legallybinding blueprint to implement the asean economic community by 2015. you may think that the time - frame is not ambitious enough but remember that asean is like a centipede in its movement where all legs must move in unison. also, the 10 countries are at very different stages of development, with per capita ranging from a low of us $ 210 for myanmar to a high of us $ 31, 000 for brunei. with the asean economic community, asean will eventually

for release on delivery 12 : 15 p. m. edt may 16, 2019 the disconnect between inflation and employment in the new normal remarks by lael brainard member board of governors of the federal reserve system at “ certain uncertainty : tax policy in unsettled times ” national tax association 49th annual spring symposium washington, d. c. may 16, 2019 it is a pleasure to be here at the national tax association annual spring symposium. just as it may take the tax experts and practitioners here today some time to disentangle the longer - term implications of recent major changes to tax policy, so, too, we are in the process of analyzing the lessons for monetary policy of apparent post - crisis changes in the relationships among employment, inflation, and interest rates. 1 the congress has assigned the federal reserve the job of using monetary policy to achieve maximum employment and price stability. price stability means moderate and stable inflation, which the federal reserve has defined to be 2 percent inflation. maximum employment is understood as the highest level of employment consistent with price stability. in the aftermath of the great recession, which had deep and persistent effects, it is important to understand whether there have been long - lasting changes in the relationships among employment, inflation, and interest rates in order to ensure our policy framework remains effective. employment and inflation this expansion will soon become the longest on record in the united states. growth has persisted throughout the past decade, overcoming downdrafts from abroad and pullbacks in fiscal support earlier in the expansion and benefiting last year from a large fiscal boost. recent data confirm that consumers remain confident, workers are productive, and businesses are hiring, although trade conflict is creating uncertainty. the job market is strong. at 3. 6 percent, the unemployment rate is now lower than it was before the crisis. at 80 percent, the employment rate for workers in their prime working - age i am grateful to john roberts of the federal reserve board for his assistance in preparing this text. these remarks represent my own views, which do not necessarily represent those of the federal reserve board or the federal open market committee. - 2years — a more comprehensive measure of slack that includes shifts in labor force participation as well as unemployment — has recently risen close to its pre - crisis level. in contrast, the picture on inflation is puzzling this far into an expansion. despite the strengthening of the labor market, the measure of core inflation excluding volatile food and energy prices did not move up to 2 percent on a