benjamin e diokno : welcome remarks to the grips academic conference welcome remarks by mr benjamin e diokno, governor of bangko sentral ng pilipinas ( bsp, the central bank of the philippines ), to the grips academic conference, manila, 21 june 2019. * * * mr. takehiko nakao, president and chair of the board of directors of the asian development bank ( adb ), dr. akihiko tanaka, president of the national graduate institute for policy studies ( grips ), distinguished session presenters and discussants, grips alumni, faculty members and staff, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. welcome to the first ever bsp - grips academic conference. with the theme “ public policy for sustainable development goals, ” this conference is a special one as it is, in fact, a triple event. not only is this conference being held as part of the 70 years ’ celebration of central banking in the philippines, it also commemorates the 20th year anniversary of grips and the 40th year anniversary of its predecessor, the graduate school of policy science ( gsps ). for this, let us give ourselves a round of applause ( gov. leads everyone to applause ). as the samurai, yamamoto tsunetomo, said over 300 years ago in the book hagakure : the book of the samurai, “ wisdom comes from paying attention to wise people. ” and this, i believe, is what grips — and its predecessor gsps — has been doing over the last 40 years. that is helping us achieve wisdom by creating a venue where we can listen to wise people and hone the skills of policymakers worldwide, acquire valuable and innovative ideas to strengthen their knowledge, and formulate research - based studies to support worthwhile policymaking. all this using a comparative perspective and practical approach, with due consideration to japan ’ s wide - ranging experience and utmost consideration of country - specific issues and circumstances. needless to say, there are many wise people in this conference. browsing through the line - up of the paper presentations, i could also see many timely, relevant, and innovative policy ideas that may emanate from such discussions. from the impact of innovation in achieving inclusiveness ; the bsp ’ s role in the process of state building in the philippines ; to the relationship of financial literacy to achieving financial inclusion — these are rich subject matters worthy of much discussion. i leave this up to all of you to discuss policy and its practical implications in the ensuing

stephen s poloz : unveiling of commemorative bank note marking the 150th anniversary of canada remarks by mr stephen s poloz, governor of the bank of canada, at the unveiling of the commemorative bank note marking the 150th anniversary of canada, ottawa, ontario, 7 april 2017. * * * we at the bank of canada are proud to have produced this special note commemorating canada ’ s 150th anniversary. we ’ ve only ever produced three other such bank notes in our 82year history, so believe me when i say this is a big deal. developing any bank note is a long and involved process, especially so with this one. we ’ ve been working on it since 2014, and more than 5, 000 individual canadians have fed into the process. we asked them if they wanted to see the past, the present or the future on the note. in true canadian form, the answer to this question was “ all three. ” the design was inspired by that input and carefully incorporates many of the ideas we heard on how to best represent the 150th anniversary of confederation. isn ’ t it amazing how much history you can fit onto a little piece of polymer? all of the historical elements in the note ’ s design show why this year calls for a big celebration! this bank note not only reflects the pride we feel about our country and its accomplishments, it also, we hope, instills in canadians a different kind of confidence. the bank is responsible for the design, production and distribution of canada ’ s bank notes. and while bank notes reflect canada ’ s society, culture and history, it ’ s also our job to ensure that they are durable and difficult to counterfeit — in short, so that canadians can have confidence in their money. from a design perspective, when we asked canadians what they wanted to see, more than anything else, they said canada ’ s landscapes. so if we look at the back of the note, we will see several images of canada ’ s natural beauty, seamlessly woven together — from sea to sea to sea. from left to right, we start in the west with the lions — or the twin sisters, as the squamish people know them — the peaks of the north shore mountains, which overlook vancouver. in the foreground, we can see capilano lake. moving east, we come to the prairies. we see wheat, the iconic crop of canada ’ s prairie provinces and one of the most important