By the end of the last century, Asia less Japan had doubled its share to 30 per cent of global GDP. China is already the second largest economy in the world, India the fourth largest, and you are all familiar with the various projections of when these two economies will become the largest and third largest respectively. The rest of Asia will continue to be the most buoyant region in the world, as it has been for the last 50 years. 4. The story of China and India as the new growth engines of the world has been told numerous times. I would therefore like to tell the story of the third growth engine of Asia – ASEAN. The ASEAN value proposition 5. ASEAN is a two-trillion-dollar economy, the fifth largest in the world at purchasing power parity terms, ahead of Russia, Brazil, France and the United Kingdom. The external trade volume of the ASEAN-5 economies (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore) is more than three times that of India’s total trade and about 60 percent that of China’s. ASEAN provides good diversification for investors’ Asian portfolios. Last year, foreign direct investments into the ASEAN-5 totaled nearly $ billion, roughly three times the inflows into India. 6. Let me touch on three aspects of the ASEAN story. First, ASEAN is resilient: it rode the global financial crisis very well. I will assess how ASEAN is now coping with the post-crisis risks of inflation and capital inflows. Second, ASEAN is getting more integrated.
It had to include both monetary and economic analysis – the ECB’s famous two pillar strategy. By explicitly taking into account the development of  Page 2/4  money and credit in its monetary policy strategy, the ECB was unique in the world of central banking. However, the ECB’s monetary policy strategy was questioned by some academics. They favoured inflation targeting. Otmar never shied away from his critics and their arguments. Consequently, he launched the ECB and Its Watchers Conference. Academics, journalists and market participants were invited. There were lively debates about the role of money in the ECB’s strategy. In his last contribution to the ECB and Its Watchers Conference in 2006, Otmar reviewed the active discussion about the role of money in the ECB’s monetary policy strategy over the previous eight years. Otmar reminded the audience how some had argued that the role of money was too large. For others it was too small. Otmar pointed out that his typical response had been that it was ‘just right’. This reminds me of a scene in the film ‘Amadeus’. Mozart, Otmar’s favourite composer, asks the emperor whether he likes his new piece, the Abduction from the Seraglio. The emperor answers, hesitantly, that he does, but adds that occasionally the piece seems to have too many notes. ‘I don't understand’, Mozart replies. ‘There are just as many notes, Majesty, as are required.