The experience gained from the listing of these foreign companies has equipped Singapore with the necessary expertise to help companies from both mature as well as emerging markets meet their capital-raising needs. In particular, the Singapore Exchange has had a long track record of being home to the IPOs of many Southeast Asian and Chinese companies. The Singapore Exchange will be able to share their expertise with our Vietnamese friends on what are some of the areas that you should look out for, as you plan for your listing. I am also especially glad that the Singapore Exchange will be signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Hanoi Stock Trading Centre this morning. The inking of the MoU can only mean more opportunities for both our stock markets to seek greater collaboration, and I urge officials from the SGX and Hanoi STC to move beyond just the MoU document to plan for even deeper level of partnership and cooperation. I understand as well that a couple of the Vietnamese State-owned Enterprises have also made plans to explore a listing on Singapore’s bourse – these are indeed concrete demonstrations of the close synergies between our two marketplaces. The stage is now set for an enduring relationship between Vietnam and Singapore that will last for years to come. I am confident that the Vietnam-Singapore Listing Preparatory Program will be but the first of many other initiatives that will further cement the growth of Vietnamese companies in Singapore.
And unemployment has fallen from a peak of 10½% on a claimant count basis at the beginning of 1993 to the present rate of 4%. That is the lowest for 20 years in the UK as a whole, and just about the lowest in nearly every region. In Yorkshire and Humberside unemployment is 4.7%, the lowest rate since June 1980. Our problem - and it is a real problem, as we have recognised for some time - is the imbalance, within the overall economy, between the domestically-oriented businesses and sectors, and those that are most internationally exposed. In part that imbalance is a hangover from the slowdown in global activity from the end of 1997 through to the start of 1999 - though the welcome recovery in global demand means that this influence is now diminishing. The more important factor now is the persistent weakness of the euro - not exclusively against sterling but equally against the dollar and the yen. The impact is particularly severe on the UK because of the closer ties between our economy and that of the Eurozone. I’ve not heard a wholly convincing explanation for the euro’s persistent weakness. Many analysts relate it to market concerns about structural rigidities in some parts of the Eurozone, which are encouraging direct capital outflows attracted elsewhere by higher prospective earnings growth. Whatever the cause, few of those I talk to expect the weakness of the euro to persist.