. the status of the oecs, therefore, lies somewhere between a common market and an economic union. the situation, therefore, is that if the impediments to the creation of the single financial space are removed, and freedom of movement of labour is legislated, then the oecs countries would have created a new economic entity with command over more natural resources, and having a larger collective market size. coordination and peer pressure would result in better policies, other things being equal. negotiating capacity would be increased and the attraction of both private capital and loans on much better terms would be real possibilities. the concept of such a new entity would require a notion of a domain which had distinctive qualities. the objectives set by the oecs heads of government in 2002 of growth, 6 percent ; unemployment of less than 6 per cent ; poverty of less than 6 per cent ; the maintenance and improvement of the human development indices and economic transformation could be placed in the context of individual targets by each country. the economic union as an identifiable entity could then establish the range of policy instruments that would facilitate the achievement of these objectives. these would span the areas of monetary, fiscal, trade, international economic relations, income, structural, social and environmental. all these policies require coordination with each other in order to be effective. new political arrangements will be required in the economic union and single financial space for the realisation of our economic goals. economic transformation is the major objective, and this will require at both the country and union level, a convergence of policies. at both levels, an improved allocation of resources will be essential for increased output. the establishment of an economic union, and the creation of a single financial space create a viable option for st kitts and nevis, and the other countries of the oecs. the enlargement of the economic space, which adds significantly to output and domestic market size, and locks in the convergence and coordination of policies, will provide a better platform for economic transformation than the current circumstances permit. the trajectory that one could see unfolding would be the consolidation of the tourism industry as the lead sector across the economic union with multidestination tourism being a critical element of the tourism strategy. the tourism sector would create linkages across the economic union with agriculture, light manufacturing and handicrafts being the major beneficiaries. information and communication technology would be a critical element of the strategy both as a supporter of other industries and a dynamic sector in its

70 % co - funding support from the financial sector development fund gaining international mindshare to create greater international mindshare, ibf launched the financeconnectsingapore website to profile singapore ’ s financial sector, to provide more information on the career opportunities here and to promote singapore as a choice location to live, work and play. to date, the website has registered over 100, 000 visits. ibf recently partnered with contact singapore to provide a job portal for financial institutions to post job openings targeted at financial professionals from overseas. bringing value to ibf members i have outlined some of the initiatives undertaken by ibf over the past year. going forward, ibf will continue to take a proactive role in promoting best practices and thought leadership in talent management strategies. on thought leadership, i am delighted to warmly welcome our keynote presentation speaker professor ronald collard for this year ’ s annual conference. professor collard will speak on the topic of “ talent strategies for sustained profitable growth ”. i believe you will learn much from professor collard ’ s extensive experience and expertise in the area of talent strategies. i also wish to thank the panelists, david, richard, robert and mark for their participation, and look forward to a lively discussion later. as ibf management is quite confident that professor collard and our panel of speakers will whet your appetite for more learning, i am pleased to announce that we will be holding the beacon series for hr professionals in october and the distinguished speaker series for business leaders in november. the year ahead will be exciting. many of you have contributed to ibf in various ways. i wish to thank my fellow council members, the fics steering committee, the fics working group members, and ficps for your contribution to promoting the fics framework. let me extend my appreciation to our industry associations and partners, including the embassy of switzerland in singapore, swiss house singapore and swiss business hub asean for partnering ibf in its organization of the workshop on “ talent development in wealth management ” in november last year ; and pricewaterhousecoopers without whom we would not have had the pleasure of listening to professor collard today. i also wish to thank the singapore workforce development agency and the monetary authority of singapore, for their close collaboration with ibf. i look forward to more of such collaboration between ibf and our industry associations and partners in the year ahead. i wish you a fruitful session ahead.