in advance of our schedule in satisfying the requirement stipulated in article viii of the imf articles of agreement. in the next five years, china will continue to adopt an appropriately tight monetary policy. the adoption of this policy means firstly, we will have an appropriately tight monetary stance to keep inflation at a level lower than the rate of economic growth. secondly, money supply should grow at an appropriate level. in the next five years, the annual growth rate of m1 will be kept at around 18 % and m2 at 21 % to 23 %. thirdly, reforms and improvements will continuously be made to the approach in making macro - economic adjustment. that is, we will move from reliance on direct control of the volume of credit towards regulating money supply by means of indirect monetary policy instruments such as reserve requirements, open market operations and interest rate policy. appropriately tight monetary policy is not limited to the control of total credit but also adjustment of the credit structure, deepening of monetary reforms, and timely adjustments to the different aspects of the monetary system. an appropriately tight monetary policy is conducive to the healthy, stable and sustained growth of the national economy. it also helps to create favourable conditions for the resumption of sovereignty and the continued prosperity of hong kong. stability in china is the very basis for hong kong ’ s stability while hong kong ’ s stability will certainly enhance economic reform and developments in china. foreign investors in hong kong will, at the same time, benefit from the stability of china and hong kong. those sceptics who have doubted china ’ s commitment to the open door policy no longer can have such doubts after witnessing the implementation of our economic reforms and its achievements. i hope you will recognise that china is firmly committed to implementing the principle of “ one country, two systems ” and maintaining the prosperity and stability of hong kong, just as we have been firmly committed to the implementation of economic reform in china. the principle of “ one country, two systems ” is the realisation of the spirit of our constitution and has become a long - term irreversible national policy. as china continues to pursue its economic reform, hong kong ’ s role as the international financial centre in china will become more and more important. we will do our best to help maintain the existing economic system of hong kong and keep up its economic dynamism. we also hope that the international financial community will join us in our efforts to maintain hong kong ’ s prosperity and stability. ladies and gentlemen, when you

to 12 months. trading rules are also specified and updated in relevant regulations, and the deliver - versus - payment ( dvp ) approach is introduced in settling draft transactions to reduce risks. going forward, the pbc and financial institutions should strengthen communication and training, and focus on innovation and risk prevention. in particular, it is important that merits of electronic drafts are effectively communicated to their major user, i. e., the enterprises. financial institutions should leverage the new system to consolidate their businesses and create better products. it is also critical that we make efforts to address potential security risks facing the system. the development of the electronic commercial draft system received support from many financial institutions. a number of banks and finance companies, including the china merchants bank, china citic bank, china minsheng bank, and industrial and commercial bank of china contributed to the discussions, drafting of regulations, and system testing that eventually lead to the creation of the system. on behalf of the people ’ s bank of china, i would like to thank these banks, and other banks, finance companies, and the clearing center for rural credit banks for your contribution. thank you.