an independent analysis and view on interest rate decisions is making a constructive contribution to public awareness and debate. and the public traffic to the bank ’ s web site has grown enormously, indicating a growing public appetite for our published statements and information. these are encouraging indications that the public is reacting to our communications and, in many cases, providing us with tangible feedback. 3. some practical challenges to a successful communications strategy implementing an effective communications strategy for monetary policy in 2004 has some very real challenges. today, i want to touch on a couple of these : first, how to communicate uncertainty ; and second, how to capitalize on new technologies, specifically an effective web site. ( i ) how to communicate about an uncertain future after many years of being involved in developing and communicating monetary policy, i have found that dealing with the simple fact that the future is uncertain is one of the most difficult communications challenges a central bank faces. clearly, financial markets are hypersensitive to anything a central bank says about the future because the markets are looking for indications about where interest rates may be going. this makes talking about the future all the more challenging. let ’ s remember, central banks do not have a crystal ball. economies are always subject to events and shocks that are unforeseen. and the fact that monetary policy operates over a medium - term time frame compounds the communications challenge. how can a central bank best address this communications challenge? i believe that we must be able to tell a coherent narrative - in other words, a story. the story has to explain the logic of central bank decisions, but allow the public and the markets to make their own assessment of future bank decisions. the story must be set in the context of a clear statement of the objective of policy, a view of the key macroeconomic relationships, especially the inflation process, and an understanding of the tools and the actions used to achieve our policy objective. but the story also has to recognize the forward - looking nature of monetary policy ; that is, the considerable time lags between monetary policy actions and their effects. and it has to recognize that the outlook is uncertain and that the future path of interest rates will be linked to developments in the economy. in other words, the outlook is conditional - conditional on assumptions, such as an assumption about the world price of oil, and on views and analysis based on circumstances at a given point in time. this may not be an easy story to tell. but for it to be as clear as

, asean - china trade volumes reached a record high of us $ 400 billion, and by 2015, asean is expected to be china ’ s top trading partner. as a result, in the next few years, we can expect a greater acceptance and use of the renminbi ( rmb ) as a trade settlement currency, especially in asean. what does this mean for us? china has already signed bilateral currency swap arrangements with key asean countries, such as singapore, malaysia and indonesia. corporates, investors and financial institutions need to be prepared if they are to capitalise on the opportunities brought on by the increasing internationalisation of the rmb. in february this year, singapore became the first country outside greater china to have a renminbi clearing bank when the singapore branch of the industrial and commercial bank of china ( icbc ) was designated as such. this was followed by mas and the people ’ s bank of china signing an enhanced bilateral currency swap agreement in april. examples of these stronger and pro - business rules are : ( i ) the procedures for investors to register their investment in order to benefit from protection under the agreement, are outlined clearly so that the procedures are transparent to investors ; ( ii ) policy - makers can more easily consider the views and feedback of the business community, as the acia has a consultations mechanism giving asean countries an official platform to stay engaged on acia matters and its implementation ; and ( iii ) the acia has a robust investor - to - state dispute settlement ( isds ) mechanism which will give investors additional recourse to seek redress or compensation if they have been treated unfairly by a government. bis central bankers ’ speeches the appointment of a renminbi clearing bank in singapore brings new functionality to the singapore financial system. the build - up of renminbi liquidity in singapore will encourage financial institutions in singapore to develop and offer a wider range of renminbi products and services. this will help meet the financing, investment, and risk management needs of the market. it will also strengthen the role of singapore as a leading global financial centre that serves asia and beyond. trans - pacific partnership ( tpp ) besides the rcep, singapore is also actively engaged in the trans - pacific partnership, or the tpp. the tpp negotiations currently involve 11 countries : australia, brunei, canada, chile, malaysia, mexico, new zealand, peru, singapore, vietnam and the united states. it aims to bring comprehensive duty - free market access as