ishrat husain : the health challenge in pakistan - prognosis and prescription chief guest address by mr ishrat husain, governor of the state bank of pakistan, at the launch of the human development report of south asia, organised by mahbubul haq center for human development, islamabad, 30 may 2005. * * * there is a strong theoretical and empirical evidence that economic growth causes improvements in human development which, in turn, increases economic growth. the improvement in health results in enhancement of basic capabilities that adds value to human life. the transmission to growth takes place through impact on worker productivity, through demography and through trade and investment. health has a positive effect on poverty reduction too. poor households are hit by major illness and fall into poverty trap. lower earnings due to withdrawal from full time employment increases the risk of illness for the rest of the households. risk of falling below poverty becomes acute in case of death of the bread winner of the family. thus, investment in health, particularly preventive health such as availability of clean drinking water and sanitation can contribute to growth and minimize the risk of falling below the poverty line. there is no doubt that pakistan ’ s social indicators are not something we can feel proud of. pakistan ’ s competitiveness in the future knowledge based economy of the world will critically depend upon how well we are able to harness and increase the productivity of labor force for meeting future challenges. it is no longer a cliche that those lag behind in human development are going to become marginalized. it is all the more surprising to note this poor state of affairs at a time that there is almost unanimity on the intellectual front and broad consensus on the political front on the importance of human development in attaining national prosperity. both the economists and non - economists have converged their views on the critical role education and training, health and nutrition play in economic development. those on the left, those in the center and conservatives also have identical views though due to different reasons. all political parties in pakistan are committed to human development as a policy objective. why is it then that the progress in this area has been so unsatisfactory and what can be done to remedy this situation? in my view there are four cogent reasons for lack of progress in human development in pakistan. first, there is a structural ambiguity in the allocation of responsibilities between the federal, provincial and local governments in the whole endeavour of human development. the overlap and duplication in

zhou xiaochuan : anti - money laundering in china - the status quo and prospects speech by mr zhou xiaochuan, governor of the people ’ s bank of china, at the first meeting of the ministerial joint conference on aml, beijing, 27 august 2004. * * * approved by the state council, the people ’ s bank of china ( pbc ), as the leading ministry in the ministerial joint conference on anti - money laundering ( aml ), invites today the member ministries to review the current aml situation, to draw up the plan for the aml work in the next stage, to determine the working procedure for the ministerial joint conference on anti - money laundering ( aml ) and the responsibilities of the relevant ministries. i. the significance of aml money laundering is the practice of legitimizing the illegally obtained gains and proceeds through a series of transactions, transfers or conversions in order to evade legal punishments. money laundering helps criminals to evade legal punishments as well as puts a premium to the spawning of new crimes, distorts normal economic and financial orders, damages credibility of financial institutions and corrupts public morality. with the deepening integration of china ’ s economy into the world economy and new changes in social conflicts, strengthening aml is of great significance. first, sound aml work is an objective necessity for safeguarding china ’ s national interests and the fundamental interests of the masses. aml involves efforts in the diplomatic, economic, judiciary and security fields etc. the performance of aml is closely related to the public image of china ’ s government both at home and abroad, to the economic stability and to the social justice. a sound practice in aml also constitutes the concrete measure for safeguarding the order of china ’ s socialist market economy and the fundamental interests of the masses and for practicing the important thoughts of “ three represents ”. the work stands for an important move for honoring the commitments of the chinese government to the outside world and for creating the image of a responsible big country with respect to aml. it is also a necessary step for speeding up the opening of the financial industry and promoting the internationalization of the chinese banks. therefore, we shall, from the vantage point of “ stressing political awareness ” and based on the significance of safeguarding china ’ s economic and financial security, sharpen the awareness of the importance and urgency of aml, establish effective aml system, and bring aml onto the track of standardization and institutional arrangement. second