from financial crises and to improve the international financial system. these measures include the improvement of disclosure to achieve enhanced market discipline, the establishment of a domestic financial system which is robust and resilient to external shocks, closer international cooperation in terms of financial supervision, and the review and strengthening of imf functions. progress of regional cooperation amid globalization, it is worth noting that we have also witnessed a clear trend toward regionalism or regional cooperation in various parts of the world. these movements toward promoting regional cooperation have taken due account of trade and financial relations. for example, in europe, the introduction of the euro and the expansion of the eu. in the americas, the expansion of nafta and dollarization which is being considered by some latin american countries. in asia, we have begun to observe some moves toward closer cooperation as i will describe later. can we reconcile these two contrasting trends, the progress of economic and financial globalization on the one hand, and the strengthening of regional cooperation on the other? one possible interpretation of this difficult question is that the driving force behind globalization has also made the interaction of economic and financial activities closer in regions which have a lot in common. for example, the rapid progress of information and communication technology can be regarded as one of the major factors supporting the integration of financial markets in the euro zone. therefore, globalization and regional cooperation can proceed simultaneously. furthermore, regional cooperation, if managed properly, will promote globalization. for example, if there are problems for which it will take a long time to form a global consensus, it may be possible to reach a consensus relatively quickly among specific regions. this is a case where regional cooperation lowers barriers to globalization in countries within the regions concerned. furthermore, if there is a common platform for discussion or a framework for solving problems in a region which consists of countries with similar economic conditions and policy orientation, we may be able to reduce the cost of global negotiations in the event of international policy conflicts or shocks. in such a case, regional cooperation may supplement a global cooperative framework. it may sound a little ironic, but regional cooperation has become all the more significant and important when globalization progresses rapidly. the global economy of the twenty - first century will most likely be a multi - layered global network of various forms of regional cooperation. regional cooperation in asia now, i would turn to regional cooperation in asia. needless to say, asia is extremely diverse in terms of culture, politics, and religion. such diversity entails difficulties in promoting regional cooperation. in

threats has rapidly evolved, with increasingly sophisticated methods being used by those attempting to cause disruptions. the rba is working closely with the fmis it supervises to better understand their approach to cyber resilience. as part of this work, the rba and asic asked the asx to conduct a selfassessment of its cyber - security practices for the fmis that it operates. this assessment concluded that the asx ’ s practices were generally aligned with the upper tiers of maturity levels under internationally used cyber security standards. 2 but this is an area that needs to be continually watched, and there is considerable work going at the international level, with the rba closely involved in this work. as a financial institution itself, the rba also sees the increasing prevalence and sophistication of cyber attacks and has made its own very significant investments to address the risks. in the area of payment infrastructure, we are undertaking work to strengthen further the resilience of the reserve bank information and transfer system, commonly known as rits. this system is owned and operated by the rba and lies at the heart of australia ’ s wholesale payment system. with those introductory remarks i look forward to participating in the panel discussion. thank you. asx ’ s high - level self - assessment was carried out against the united states national institute of standards and technology cybersecurity framework. bis central bankers ’ speeches