To reject them would mean thwarting the efforts that Turkey is making to modernise itself and to develop a democratic system; it would mean consigning that country to the confusion and despotism of unstable regions such as the Middle East and the Caucasus; and it would mean sending out a negative signal to the whole moderate Islamic world, reinforcing the intransigence of the fundamentalists and lending support to those who predict a clash of civilisations.

The increasingly open nature of the Maltese economy, large dependence on tourism revenues and its small size make the economy increasingly vulnerable to external economic and geopolitical shocks.

If the phenomenon of market opening of industrialised economies is not a new one, the actors and the modalities of this international division of labour have changed: a rapid development since the first oil crisis, the end of the traditional international division of labour between North and South, a new competition from the countries of the South without the dominant position of the North in World trade being seriously undermined, a division of labour within branches and not only between branches, an international segmentation of production processes.

The initial reaction of the people has been shock and disillusionment, but in time China will be stronger for its openness.

The shock was that much greater because many of us were delighted at the election of President Chatami and at the signals of openness, reforms and respect for human rights which he was giving out.

In a world that is subject to all kinds of shocks and with financial markets increasingly more open and globalized, monetary policy actions stand a better chance of being effective if they are more predictable and better understood by the public.