a number of projects are underway to nurture regional corporate bond markets, and the bank of japan has participated actively in some of these initiatives, including the successful launch of the for more details, see asian development outlook 2010 update : the future of growth in asia, asian development bank, 2010. for more details, see “ weathering financial crises : bond markets in asia and the pacific ”, bis paper no. 63, bank for international settlements, 2012. bis central bankers ’ speeches asian bond fund ( abf ). but the saving - and - investment balance in asia has remained lopsided since the asian financial crisis. in other words, asia has excess savings, with the region ’ s investment still below the levels seen prior to the asian crisis. development of corporate bond markets in asia is one effective way to align savings with investment within the region. also, given the aging trends in asia, well - developed corporate bond markets would offer the additional merit of creating long - term investable assets for such institutional investors as pension funds and life insurance companies. with regard to capital markets, i would also like to touch briefly on the subject of asian stock markets because stock markets, together with bond markets, are a vital part of capital markets. asian stock markets have grown exponentially in recent years. according to statistics from the world federation of exchanges, equity finance in the asia - pacific region accounted for 46 percent of the world total last year. during the same period, half of all global initial public offerings took place in the asia - pacific region. asia ’ s stock market capitalization accounts for 31 percent of the global total, indicating that the pace of recovery in stock markets following the lehman crisis is fastest in this part of the world ( chart 3 ). it seems that a virtuous cycle is operating in asian stock markets, in which larger trading volumes and higher market liquidity reinforce each other, prompting both regional and foreign firms to seek funding in asia. last year, for example, we saw glencore, one of the world ’ s leading commodities traders, listed in both london and hong kong. this event points to the vitality of asian stock markets. by making its stock markets more attractive as funding venues, asia can open up its plentiful savings to globally active firms. the flip side of this is that asian investors will have greater opportunities to invest abroad. to achieve further development of asian capital markets based on their interactions with global firms, it seems necessary to harmonize market infrastructures

challenges facing our pacific islands. i congratulate all our researchers who will be presenting their work during the conference. the research papers are the culmination of critical thinking and innovative proposals that should be encouraged to the next step of being published in reputable journals. in closing, i wish you all a successful workshop and i trust that the knowledge - sharing will be useful and rewarding to you personally and to your respective organizations and countries. i also hope that you will find time to enjoy suva. it may be challenging to listen to all the technical discussions planned, especially having such a conference in the festive month of december, so please do enjoy our fijian hospitality and may i also take this opportunity to wish you all a blessed christmas and a prosperous 2019. thank you!