Deepening International Cooperation
In March 2011, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was appointed as the Chairman of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC). The IMFC is the key advisory body of the IMF Board of Governors that sets the policy direction for the IMF. At the Spring Meetings in April 2011, the IMFC tasked the IMF to produce a consolidated multilateral surveillance report by September 2011, agreed on the need to develop a "comprehensive and balanced approach" for the management of capital flows, and expressed support to enhance the IMFC's role "as a key forum for global economic and financial cooperation".
As a key financial centre, Singapore participated in the G20 Seoul Summit in November 2010. We joined G20 members in supporting the call for a coordinated global effort to achieve strong, sustainable and balanced growth, committing to implement financial regulatory reforms and more effective oversight and supervision, supporting a stronger IMF by enhancing its legitimacy, credibility and effectiveness, as well as contributing to initiatives to strengthen global financial safety nets.
Singapore continues to contribute actively towards international Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism-Financing (AML/CFT) standard-setting discussions at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and regional AML/ CFT efforts through our participation at the Asia- Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG).
To support international debate on key issues pertaining to the international monetary system, including on capital flows, surveillance and international financing arrangements, MAS co-hosted a High-Level Conference with the IMF on the post-crisis international financial system in September 2010.
MAS continued its strong partnership with the World Bank Group in 2010 by jointly organising the second World Bank - Singapore Infrastructure Summit. The event marked the launch of the Infrastructure Finance Centre of Excellence (IFCOE) which aims to facilitate the flow of private capital to public infrastructure projects. The IFCOE will provide policy advice to regional governments and assist in structuring commercially viable infrastructure projects for private sector investors. Under the IFCOE partnership, Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) were signed between the World Bank, Singapore Cooperation Enterprise (SCE) and the respective Governments of Indonesia and Vietnam to launch two new joint projects. The MOUs provide for the SCE to develop an urban transportation plan and identify transport-related infrastructure investment opportunities in Danang, and develop a PPP bulk water supply system project in the city of Lampung, Indonesia.
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