lim hng kiang : opening of the norges bank investment management ’ s singapore office remarks by mr lim hng kiang, minister for trade and industry and deputy chairman of the monetary authority of singapore, in celebration of the opening of the norges bank investment management ’ s singapore office, singapore, 1 july 2010. * * * minister sigbjørn johnsen, governor svein gjedrem, ambassador janne julsrud, ladies and gentlemen, good evening. 1. it is a pleasure to be here to celebrate the opening of norges bank investment management ’ s ( “ nbim ” ) singapore office. 2. the opening of nbim ’ s investment office here is an affirmation of the growing importance of asian markets in the portfolios of many long - term investors like nbim. it also reflects singapore ’ s role as a key location to manage asian investments. your presence here will not only bring you closer to the markets you invest in but also help form stronger ties with partners in this part of the world. 3. among the sovereign wealth funds or swfs around the world, nbim is widely regarded as a role model for transparency and governance. being one of the earliest swfs, nbim has built up a strong reputation of excellence and leadership in investment and risk management, governance and talent management practices. nbim has stayed focused on its objective to preserve and grow wealth for the future generations of norwegians by diversifying its investments internationally and developing a talented investment team. your track record has been most enviable. 4. here in singapore, as we develop gic to invest our national reserves, we have always looked towards nbim in maintaining a close professional exchange of views and in mutual learning from one another. over the past 12 years, the two organisations have actively exchanged best practices across a full spectrum of investment, risk management, operational and governance issues ; the professional ties extend across many levels between the two organisations. these, i am told, have included a regular dialogue between gic ’ s senior management and governor gjedrem of norges bank and his management team at nbim. 5. this partnership extends into the international arena. in particular, the work undertaken by the international working group or iwg, imf ’ s grouping of swfs which includes both norway and singapore, has important relevance to the global community. i believe nbim and singapore ’ s gic

forces will have an impact on the canadian economy in the years ahead. against this backdrop, what kinds of economic adjustments will be needed in the future? let me suggest a few. first, canada ’ s economic structures must continue to adjust to changing circumstances. there will need to be more high - productivity activities in the economy and fewer low - productivity ones. but for significant gains in productivity to resume, governments must ensure that their microeconomic policies encourage flexibility and do not hinder innovation in the public and private sectors. workers will need to have the training and skills to take advantage of new technologies. and businesses will need to ensure that their organizations and practices allow the potential of new technologies to be fully realized. second, canada must keep its fiscal house in order. canada ’ s ratio of public debt to gdp will need to decline further. this will free up more resources to help us support our aging population. at the same time, this implies that governments at all levels will be keeping their budgets more or less balanced, if not in surplus. what about monetary policy in the future? in the bank ’ s monetary policy report update last month, we said that the role of monetary policy is to facilitate adjustments by helping to sustain aggregate demand. what does this mean? as always, it means that we will aim to return inflation to its 2 per cent target, by trying to keep the economy operating as close as possible to its full production capacity. that is our constant goal. but it also means that we will be aware of the forces that are driving adjustments in the economy in the years ahead. we know that, with a stronger currency, the economy will have to rely more on domestic demand and less on foreign demand for ongoing, solid growth. we will take this into account as we set monetary policy. this leads me to my last point, which concerns the exchange rate. a floating exchange rate will continue to be an important part of our monetary policy framework, facilitating the necessary adjustments and sending important price signals. canadian businesses should continue to be guided by price signals, including those being sent by exchange rates. just as businesses reacted to the signals of a weaker canadian dollar in the 1990s, they should now respond to the signals of a stronger currency against the u. s. dollar, as well as to the changing exchange rates against other currencies. a stronger canadian currency is consistent with the adjustments that are going to be needed in our economy, even if the speed of the recent appreciation has made these adjustments