Singapore, 18 September 2006...Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong addressed a gathering of finance ministers, central bank governors and senior bankers at a lunch hosted by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.  The lunch followed the International Banking Seminar organised by the Group of Thirty in the morning.

2   Mr Goh spoke on the topic of  "Sharing Some Perspectives on Growth".  In his speech, Mr Goh shared his thoughts on the pre-requisite conditions for achieving sustained economic growth.  The three conditions outlined in his speech were the need for leaders to offer the right vision and ideas, the need for policies to be grounded by a sense of reality, and the need for implementation to be effective.  Effective implementation in turn required effective leadership, sound institutions, as well as social consensus and cohesion.  Mr Goh concluded his speech by offering his views on the prospects of a number of countries in Asia with the potential to achieve sustained economic growth.

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