in the patterns of trade, production and growth in the coming years. the adjustments to these changes will be neither easy nor smooth. as unemployment in some advanced economies mount, the risk of trade and financial protectionism rises. rapid changes in the real economy will generate greater uncertainty, and potentially greater volatility in financial markets. over the next few years, asia is likely to grow more slowly compared to pre - crisis days, when external demand from advanced economies weakens. to sustain growth, asian economies with big domestic markets will need to continue with structural reforms to boost domestic demand. smaller asian economies will have to re - orientate their economies to respond to new opportunities in these markets. the cross - border production and supply - chain networks, which have been so efficient in raising asia ’ s exports to the rest of the world, remains valuable but will have to be increasingly re - orientated towards raising domestic and intraasian consumption of final goods and services. measures to encourage new investments in the corporate sector and in public infrastructure, as well as in education and healthcare, will be necessary for most asian emerging economies in order to realize their growth potential. the basic outline of changes is well understood, but crafting the details of these changes, and calibrating the pace of implementation, will need thoughtful work. the build up of domestic demand would probably be a gradual process, as experiences of japan and germany suggest that reducing a nation ’ s export dependence involves major structural changes that evolve over an extended period of time. nevertheless, i am optimistic that asia will be able to respond to these challenges, to achieve its longer term growth potential and contribute towards more sustainable global growth. financial regulations and development let me now turn to the third set of challenges : financial regulations and development. financial authorities are now working intensely in various fora, such as the financial stability board and basel committee, on regulatory reforms and cross - border cooperation. the major themes relate to new capital and liquidity frameworks and linking these to systemic risks ; dealing with the moral hazard problem of individual institutions becoming “ too big ”, or “ too connected ” to fail ; cross - border coordination and resolution regimes ; redefining accounting rules and building counter - cyclical buffers to address pro - cyclicality ; adherence to global standards and others. in many areas, measures have already been agreed and implemented. many of these changes will be relevant to asia, and we need to abide by global standards. however, following the asian crisis, significant

conduct regional executive education programmes, as well as conduct asia - specific financial research. financial institutions like axa and bnp paribus have also set up training and research centres in singapore. i understand that there is also well - established financial research infrastructure under the ambit of paris europlace and the europlace institute of finance. we look forward to greater collaboration between french and singapore institutions. in particular, given the importance of risk management in finance, i hope that french institutions specializing in this area can bring their expertise to this region. conclusion in closing, the global financial crisis has presented many lessons for the financial community and policymakers. in asia, the crisis has accelerated structural reforms. there are many challenges ahead, including the development of the financial services sector in appropriate ways to support economic restructuring. i hope that financial institutions in france and singapore will contribute meaningfully to this development and help bring about a more resilient and robust global economy. i wish paris europlace every success in hosting this forum, and look forward to many more such exchanges in the future.