##ully and successfully in so many “ battlefields ”. wim was not only a great central banker. he was not only a great president of the european central bank, making history in launching the single currency. he was a great friend, a great european friend. the dutch writer cees nooteboom says in “ the question of brussels ” : “ how to become a european? in starting by being one, a quality that we can acquire, for instance, in being born in the netherlands. the same result could be obtained, according to some, in sicily, in east prussia, in lapponia or in wales, but being myself a european of the dutch kind, i prefer to stick to this particular kind of european ( … ). in fact if i am a european, it probably means that the european wealth of different cultures influences my dutch specificity ”. wim was a great european, fully open to our common cultural wealth. fluent in english, german and french, as well as dutch of course, he was a man of culture, a man of great intellectual and moral elegance. among his many friends, his extreme kindness, his wit, his humour, his smile were legendary. his openness to others and his simplicity were always appreciated by all, particularly by the staff of the ecb. he gave a lot to colleagues and friends only out of the goodness of his heart. gretta, i am particularly fond of one memory of wim, an event which i must relate because it says so much about him. the two of you were in aachen when wim was to receive the charlemagne prize. there was he, that tall fellow with his magnificent mop of hair and there were you, a picture of supreme elegance. but you had a problem walking on the cobblestone streets of aachen – so wim gave you his shoes, carried yours and walked in his socks through the streets with his prize around his neck. simplicity, imagination, humour and great kindness are the best words to define our dear friend wim, who will be with us, with all of us, forever, as chateaubriand said, “ not defeated, only invisible ”. i would like to give the last word to wim himself. at his farewell celebration on 22 october 2003 he said : “ all in all, i had the privilege of being part of history. being responsible for the introduction of a new currency is the dream of any central banker, i believe. a

rules of trade. all of us need to support these efforts and to be vocal in resisting calls for protectionism. in addition, it is critical that we get on with the job of building an international monetary order for the 21st century. a more effective international monetary fund ( imf ) has a crucial role to play in this regard. this issue is extraordinarily important, and i spoke at length on this topic in a speech i gave last month in montreal. current economic developments in canada against that backdrop, what specific policies are needed to help the canadian economy adjust to global developments? while imbalances pose risks ahead, recent economic growth in the global economy has been quite strong, led by the united states and china. this growth has increased the world prices of oil and of many other commodities that we produce in canada. as a result, there has been a marked improvement in our terms of trade — that is, the ratio of the prices that we receive for our exports to the prices we pay for our imports. this improvement has helped to raise real incomes and stimulate domestic demand in canada. we have also been importantly affected by the sharp appreciation of the canadian dollar against the u. s. dollar over the past couple of years — an appreciation that has had a major impact in many sectors. the canadian economy has been adjusting to these economic forces. we have seen increased business investment spending in sectors that are benefiting from higher world prices. we are also seeing rising investment in sectors that are not very exposed to international trade, as such firms react to strong growth in domestic demand. and we've had very strong investment in housing. but in other sectors that are highly exposed to international trade, mainly goods - producing sectors, prices are either falling or rising very slowly. firms in these industries are feeling the pressure of the higher canadian dollar, and they are also facing increased competition from other regions of the world. the good news is that many canadian firms are making the necessary adjustments. investment spending is being directed towards increased specialization, higher productivity, and lower costs. since much of the productivity - enhancing machinery and equipment is priced in u. s. dollars, the stronger canadian dollar has made it easier for firms to make investments. a growing number of firms are looking to cut costs by importing more inputs, particularly from asia. other firms are phasing out production lines with low profit margins. through its monetary policy, the bank of canada is helping these adjustments by keeping inflation low, stable,