Visit By Minister for Trade & Industry Mr Lim Hng Kiang to ASEAN Finance Ministers Investor Seminar and IMF World Bank Meetings in the US

Singapore, 24 September 2004 ? Minister for Trade & Industry Lim Hng Kiang will visit the United States from 27 September 2004 to 4 October 2004.

Minister Lim will attend the ASEAN Finance Ministers Investor Seminar in New York on 29 September 2004, where he will deliver the opening address and participate in panel discussions.

The seminar has its genesis at the ASEAN Finance Ministers' Meeting held in Singapore in April 2004. The meeting was chaired by Minister Lim in his capacity as Singapore's Second Minister for Finance. At the meeting, the ASEAN Finance Ministers noted strong growth prospects for the region's economies and wide changing reforms that have transformed the region to provide an attractive value proposition for international portfolio investment. To update international investors on ASEAN's transformation, they agreed to organise a joint road-show to the United States.

From New York, Minister Lim will travel to Washington D.C to attend the 2004 International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group (WB) Annual Meetings. As Chairman of the IMF and WB Boards of Governors, Minister Lim will preside over the plenary sessions of the 2004 Annual Meetings. He will also chair the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency Procedures Committee Meeting and the Joint Procedures Committee Meeting.

The Boards are the highest decision-making bodies in their respective institutions. The Boards' mandates include preserving stability in the international monetary and financial system, and reducing poverty worldwide. The Chairmanship is rotated among major geographical regions. Minister Lim's term commenced immediately after the 2003 Annual Meetings and will conclude after the 2004 Annual Meetings.

Whilst in Washington D.C., Minister Lim will meet members of the US Congress and key officials of the Bush Administration, including US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Commerce Theodore Kassinger.

MINISTRY OF FINANCE
MONETARY AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE