set up substantial presence. several large companies that are globalising are using singapore as a marketing and operations centre for their regional businesses. for start - ups, singapore serves as an ideal incubator to prototype innovative ideas and technologies. this is a promising way of marrying india ’ s large talent pool with singapore ’ s emphasis on such industries and with our framework of intellectual property protection. numerous start - ups are now incubating in the indian centre and several have secured funding, penetrated markets and grown into mature companies. building on these, a second centre is being planned with the confederation of indian industry. all these make singapore a natural gateway connecting india to asean and east asia, as well as a launch pad for products and services of the future. conclusion these are exciting times in asia. countries have the opportunity to transform their economies, and substantially improve the lives of their people. for companies, many opportunities are opening up, which will surely be seized, if not by you then by your competitors. globalisation is an unstoppable phenomenon, presenting opportunities to those who are prepared but threatening the unconverted. it will not be easy for countries to realise this promise of globalisation, and avoid its many hazards each on their own. they need to look beyond their borders to tap and leverage on one another ’ s strengths. i believe that southeast asia will rise to the challenge, hold its own as an attractive market and investment destination, and at the same time be an integral part of a booming asia. india is a major part of the asian story. i look forward to deepening and broadening the ties between these two regions, and in particular between india and singapore, to the benefit of our economies, our private sectors, and our peoples.

participating as downstream manufacturers in regional production networks. in vietnam, manufacturing now makes up a third of the economy. - vietnam has developed into one of the world ’ s top electronics exporters, with samsung producing about 40 % of its phones there. to be sure, asian economies will continue to be subject to the political, economic and social 3 / 6 bis central bankers'speeches uncertainties that characterise emerging markets. but the region ’ s fundamentals are sound. growth inherently enlarges the size of the asset pool, and asset markets in asia provide a compelling case for global investors. the region is seeing a growing diversity of institutional investors – not just from asia but also from europe and the americas. there is also an expanding breadth of investible assets, driven by asian companies raising capital to grow and internationalise their business. alternative opportunities in asia recent trends in the asset management landscape favour investment opportunities in asia. a key trend is the shift in asset allocation from traditional public markets to private market alternatives like private equity ( pe ), real estate and infrastructure. this is largely driven by investors ’ search for yield and portfolio diversification benefits. preqin reports that allocations towards alternative assets hit a record us $ 7. 7 trillion assets under management in 2016. and perhaps as an indication of more to come, global institutional investors are still below their long - term target allocations to such alternative asset classes. in the steer towards alternative assets, there are two themes that stand out for investors looking towards asia. first, companies, including those in asia, are choosing to stay private for longer, and are increasingly comfortable with the pe value proposition. second, asia ’ s immense real estate and infrastructure needs are an opportunity for investors to monetise its demographic and structural transformations. the trend of companies choosing to stay private for longer is particularly marked for technology companies. if the experience in the us is any indication, the average age of us technology companies that went public in 2014 was 11 years, up from just 4 years in 1999. we are seeing the same among asian tech start - ups. - alibaba stayed private for 15 years before its ipo in 2014. - closer to home, singapore - based sea ltd, southeast asia ’ s most valuable start - up, raised its first funding round in 2009 and only recently filed for an ipo after 8 years. - razer inc., which was founded in 2005 by a singaporean and is now based in california, is still staying the