Singapore Regional Training Institute Opens With Seminar on Capital Flows in Asia

• Author: Shuja Nawaz
• Position: IMF Institute
• Pages: 166

Page 166

An inaugural seminar on "Capital Flows: Challenges and Opportunities in Asia" on May 4 marked the opening of the IMF-Singapore Regional Training Institute (STI). IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus and Singapore's Minister for Finance Richard Hu presided over a ribbon-cutting ceremony, which preceded the seminar and was attended by ministers, central bank governors, and other high-ranking officials from the Asia and Pacific region. A two-day seminar on capital account convertibility, which followed the inaugural seminar, was the first regular training event.

The idea for such an institute predated the massive international interest in the financial crisis of 1997, Camdessus explained. In late 1996, Singapore's Prime Minister,

Goh Chok Tong, proposed a joint training institute in the course of a meeting on the World Trade Organization held in Singapore; Camdessus said, "It was the only decision I have ever made on the spot!" Planning began soon afterward, with IMF Institute Director Mohsin Khan coordinating the IMF's collaboration with counterparts in Singapore's Monetary Authority and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A temporary site was readied at the Monetary Authority; a permanent site, at the National University of Singapore, will be ready by 2002.

The STI provides "further evidence of the strong commitment by the Fund to our membership in this region," said Camdessus. Through it, the IMF could help "develop human capital....to ensure the continued and healthy growth of economies in the Asia and Pacific region." Speaking on "Restoring Credibility in Economic Management: The Strengthening of Institutional Capabilities," Hu termed the institute as "especially important against the developments in this region since mid-1997, which have highlighted the need for institutional building and training." Hu held public institutions accountable for failing to safeguard the stability of financial systems. Institutional weaknesses also impeded the adjustment process. The STI, he added, will help countries in the region develop the capacity to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century in a world of increasing financial globalization and integration.

Camdessus spelled out the need for more open governmental operations and financial systems, and orderly capital account liberalization. The STI, he said, would contribute to all these objectives by developing skills, disseminating the lessons of experience, and providing a forum for...