deepening and broadening our talent pool so that it is on par with those in other leading financial centres. fund management and private banking activities build up the investor base for our financial centre. the wealth management business has grown rapidly and prospects are bright. strong economic growth in asia has led to an accumulation of wealth in both the government and private sectors. to capture a share of this growing asian wealth, our financial institutions must offer products and services that meet global standards. on our part, mas will continue to promote a conducive regulatory environment and provide appropriate incentives to support the growth of new areas such as alternative investments, structured products, trust services and philanthropy advisory services. mas will also work with other government agencies to develop a holistic “ best home ” environment for qualified high net worth individuals. we have just devised a permanent residency scheme for individuals who place at least s $ 5 million with mas - registered financial institutions. we hope this will boost total assets under management and attract high net worth individuals and their families to take up residency here. we must also develop a solid domestic investor base. in 1999, mas and gic announced plans to place out a total of s $ 35 billion in foreign assets for management by private sector fund managers. the initiative has attracted many international fund management companies to set up offices in singapore and has catalysed the growth of total assets under management. some firms have established their regional headquarters here. these companies have helped to broaden the range of products here beyond plain vanilla equity mutual fund products and develop more sophisticated skills and expertise. mas has decided to place out an additional s $ 5 billion to external fund managers. the funds will be invested in asian equity and fixed income markets. this recognises the investment opportunities in asia and will also help to anchor and grow specialist skills in asian investments in our financial centre. this will be on top of what gic recently announced it will place out for external management. liquidity and depth in singapore ’ s treasury and capital markets is another critical success factor for our financial centre. singapore can serve global issuers and investors as the gateway to asean markets. we want to promote the asean region as an asset class for capital markets investments. we will work with key players, including the singapore exchange ( sgx ), to forge regional exchange linkages, integrate market infrastructure, harmonise regulatory frameworks and promote regional electronic bond trading. sgx already has a link with the australian stock exchange and is in discussions with bursa malaysia and

the ideological one - between mainstream islam and the extremist elements. if the extremists are not defeated in this intra - islam ideological fight, there will be a constant supply of terrorists out to create terror and chaos. tensions have heightened in the taiwan straits and the korean peninsula. while taiwan ’ s economy is becoming increasingly intertwined with china ’ s, politically, taiwan appears to be taking steps to move permanently away from china. the risk of a miscalculation leading to military conflict is high in the next few years. the consequences of such a war will make the war in iraq look like a skirmish. asia will be in turmoil. its development will be set back for many years. north korea is another potential trouble spot. fortunately, whatever their differences, the key players share a common interest in the peaceful containment of the issue. iii. five - year strategic plan what does this mean for us in mas? it means we have to anticipate events and plan for uncertainties. it means we have to be proactive, not just react to events after they have taken place. this is what the work - plan is about - planning our work over the next five years, in the context of likely scenarios. i believe, barring a war in asia which all countries must work hard to prevent, we can be optimistic about our future. singapore is situated at the heart of a dynamic asia. our economy has undergone major restructuring over the past few years. it has regained its competitiveness. we are expanding our economic space and have shown that we can manage change as a people. there is no reason why singapore should not continue to do well. the mas strategic planning exercise has yielded three inter - linked and mutually reinforcing priorities for the next five years. these are not new goals. they are priorities. let me elaborate on them and the key strategies to support them. strengthening our position as a leading financial centre in asia our first priority is to strengthen singapore ’ s position as a leading financial centre in asia. we will work closely with the financial industry to enlarge our investor base, build greater liquidity and depth in our financial markets, and expand our reach beyond traditional markets. to succeed, the industry needs to attract talented and dynamic professionals from a broad range of disciplines and experiences. i am pleased that the industry has established the financial industry competency standards committee to develop internationally - aligned competency benchmarks for the whole financial sector. this will guide industry efforts towards