Thank You!

Thank you to all of the speakers, sponsors and delegates who made this year’s AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum \ Southeast Asia in Singapore so engaging and fun. The speakers, and especially the moderators, did an excellent job of keeping an animated and good-natured debate going—even leavening their remarks with a few well-timed quips. 

Delegates were substantially more senior than in previous years, underlining the seriousness with which the AVCJ Forums are viewed, and perhaps pointing to a region which is doing comparatively well in relation both to previous years and to much of the rest of the world.  Indeed, the conference attracted a more diverse crowd than in prior years too, perhaps signifying a spreading out of the PE diaspora throughout the region as well as increased international interest.

Good news for the region, tempered with caution, came in the form of Joseph Zveglich, Assistant Chief Economist at ADB in Manila.  In his opening address Mr Zveglich explained how the combination of fiscal and monetary stimulus being provided by central banks, relatively healthy pre-crisis financial systems (thanks to the lessons learned from Asia's own crisis in 1997), and the rapid turnaround of key regional trading partners had enabled the region to escape the worst of the global financial crisis, and set it on track to suffer a V-shaped recovery, rather than the W-shaped version which looks set to visit western economies.

We look forward to seeing you all again next year.

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