. in addition to upholding past achievements, further reform efforts are needed across the euro area, as outlined in the 2015 countryspecific recommendations, which each year identify key objectives in tackling remaining vulnerabilities and rigidities. it is only through such reforms that we can avoid a build - up of new imbalances and bring growth rates back to levels that ensure prosperity and allow households and member states to grow out of their debt. improving the functioning of the labour market remains key in this respect, with a view to ensuring a rapid adaptation to shocks or structural change. this area remains an important challenge in portugal, as also mentioned in the 2015 country - specific recommendations. taking further action is all the more important, with high unemployment, according to the latest eurobarometer, being considered the main concern to the people of portugal. but we also need reforms that encourage firms to invest. investment raises both supply tomorrow and demand today. such reforms include measures that further improve the business environment. however, investment could also be helped by addressing the corporate debt overhang. for instance, increasing the efficiency of debt restructuring tools could disburden still viable companies and thereby facilitate their investment plans. the european semester, in which these country - specific recommendations have been issued, should be a good framework to push for such a new effort. however, the countryspecific reform recommendations, as just indicated by the commission, have so far hardly or not at all been acted upon by member states. stepping up the reform momentum is therefore essential. in this respect, i have noted with great interest that you will be discussing the national reform programme later today. indeed, greater ownership not only by national governments, but also by parliaments and bodies such as this one would be crucial for the european semester to gain more traction and yield better results. making economic and monetary union work in the long run these are efforts that should be undertaken by countries individually. but there is also work to be done collectively. most importantly, governments should work towards completing economic and monetary union ( emu ). emu remains an incomplete construction. and while steps have been taken to strengthen the economic governance framework and to make our financial markets safer, this incompleteness amplified the effects of policy mistakes in the run - up to the crisis and continues to leave emu fragile and its member states vulnerable to shocks. in principle, we know where the weak spots in our construction are. the five presidents ’ report provides a road map on how

lim hng kiang : brief review of recent financial and economic developments in singapore congratulatory remarks by mr lim hng kiang, deputy chairman of the monetary authority of singapore and minister for trade and industry, at deutsche bank's 35th anniversary, singapore, 13 feb 2007. * * * distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good evening, i am delighted to be with you this evening to celebrate deutsche bank's 35th anniversary in singapore. i am very glad to note as well that today's celebrations is also marked by deutsche bank's move to one raffles quay, the newest address in our financial district. it is testimony of deutsche bank's continued commitment to singapore. set up in 1972, we have seen deutsche bank singapore grow in size over the years. it has also witnessed and participated in the economic transformation of singapore, from a trading hub in the 1970s, to a major metropolis today. we are indeed heartened that, 35 years on deutsche bank continues to see opportunities to deepen its roots here. just last week, deutsche bank announced its group performance for 2006 and i must congratulate dr ackermann and your team, for registering yet another record year for deutsche bank. today deutsche bank is represented in many of asia's financial markets. we are indeed pleased that deutsche bank had made singapore the hub for your regional operations. we noted that some 1600 people are involved in a broad scope of activities including trading, treasury and investment banking here. to accommodate this, i understand that deutsche bank's trading floor in this building is one of the largest in singapore. singapore's economic growth for 2006 continues to stay strong at 7. 7 %, with almost 170, 000 jobs created last year. our market indices have breached the 3, 000 point mark and our gdp per capita has exceeded us $ 30, 000. we are also witnessing the strong growth of asia propelled primarily by the two economic powerhouses of india and china. the economies in south east asian have seen a resurgence with countries like vietnam rushing forth and is one of the fastest growing economies in the region. trade and investments among asian countries, and between regions including the middle east and asia, have increased substantially. we have also seen substantial wealth creation in the middle east and asia. asia is estimated to have about 2. 4 million high net worth individuals with assets over us $ 7. 6 trillion and comprise almost 20 % of global high new worth wealth. this is projected to grow annually by