##kuks to meet the needs of financial institutions conducting shariahcompliant activities in singapore. these sukuks will be issued on a reverse enquiry basis, and will initially be priced off the singapore government securities market. these initiatives are catalysed by feedback from the industry, which has taken an active interest in the development of islamic finance in singapore. i would like to thank the industry for your feedback. we have seen promising growth. a dozen middle eastern banks are operating in singapore, adding islamic financing activities to their conventional financing. singapore's first islamic bank, islamic bank of asia has just opened its first overseas office in bahrain. international banks are structuring islamic financial products in singapore. daiwa ’ s ftse shariah japan 100 etf is therefore well placed to meet the growing demand for shariah compliant financial solutions. this listing adds to the range of etf and shariah compliant products in singapore, and provides a direct channel for investing in japan. trade and investment between japan and the middle east are increasing, and will continue to rise in the coming years. the flow of finance and investment capital will rise to complement these. japan which has the second largest economy in the world has much to offer to promote the flow of capital, ideas and technology. i am pleased that investors and financial institutions like daiwa have found singapore a useful node to facilitate this flow between japan and the middle east. we will, on our part, continue to facilitate this deepening of business and financial relations. on that note, let me extend my heartiest congratulations to daiwa asset management and the singapore exchange for embarking on this venture. we look forward to its success and the creation of more innovative investment products from daiwa asset management and other financial institutions to add to the vibrancy of our market. thank you.

heng swee keat : new strategies for new economic realities remarks by mr heng swee keat, managing director of the monetary authority of singapore, at the 16th annual world islamic banking conference, bahrain, 7 december 2009. * * * h. e. governor rasheed m. al maraj, central bank of bahrain, h. e. aset o. issekeshev, minister of industry and trade, republic of kazakhstan, your excellencies distinguished guests ladies and gentlemen 1. good morning. i am honoured to speak at this plenary session of the 16th world islamic banking conference. global crisis and recovery 2. the theme of “ new strategies for new economic realities ” is timely. last year, the financial crisis that enveloped the world was unprecedented in scale, complexity and speed of transmission. major financial institutions have failed and others continue to face significant challenges ahead. 3. the outlook seems better now than a year ago. equity markets have rallied and credit spreads narrowed. many asian and gcc economies have recovered more quickly and strongly than expected with china and india leading the way. asean - 5 and gcc countries are expected to post small positive growth in 2009. going into 2010, growth in asean - 5 and gcc is estimated to rebound sharply to 4 % and 5. 2 % respectively. 4. however, sentiments remain volatile and investors react sharply to bad news, as recent events have shown. the global de - leveraging of financial institutions is still on - going. the imf has highlighted that global banks and financial institutions have yet to recognize more than half of their total estimated write - downs of us $ 3. 4 trillion. so far, growth has been supported by the massive monetary and fiscal stimulus. indeed, studies of past crises suggest that economic recoveries in the aftermath of financial crises tended to be protracted. many analysts therefore expect global growth to be slower in the coming years. 5. against this backdrop, what should be the growth strategies of emerging economies, and what is the role of financial institutions, especially islamic financial institutions? 6. even with slower global growth, emerging asian and middle eastern economies are expected to grow at higher rates than advanced economies. there are many positives working in their favour – abundant natural resources and monetary reserves ; young and dynamic populations, growing consumer demand, large infrastructural programmes underway in some areas like water, energy, transport, education and healthcare. generally, balance sheets of corporates and households are