Good Afternoon Colleagues, Partners and Friends,
On behalf of Temasek Board and Management, a warm welcome to our annual Lunar New Year Lo Hei and Luncheon. It is great to get together in celebration of this auspicious occasion.
Let me begin by taking this opportunity to express our appreciation to Mr Michael Lien, who retired from the Temasek board in June last year. Michael served as a director of Temasek Holdings from 2010 to June 2018. Thank you, Michael, for your commitment and contributions in the past years!
In October last year, we lost a valued and long-serving member of the board, Mr Kua Hong Pak. He served on the Temasek board since 1996, and made a truly meaningful contribution to Temasek’s evolution. He is greatly missed. Nevertheless, his lifetime achievements are for us to remember and to commemorate.
2018 marked a new milestone for Temasek. It was the year our portfolio crossed the S$300 billion mark in value.
While we continue to build on our commitment to do well as an investor, we are mindful that the enduring success of Temasek as an Institution is tied to the well-being of our environment – be it the business, geopolitical or our physical environment.
Today, we find ourselves in a world obviously shaken by turbulence in the socioeconomic and geopolitical landscape, which you all see. However, even the physical environment presents increasing volatility. Climate change is real, and its effects have been on stark display all over the world, even again during the past few weeks.
Against this backdrop, organisations, corporations and societies need to stay true to their “Purpose”.
During a recent speech that you probably heard about, Ho Ching posited the three dimensions that drive the Purpose of organisations, institutions and societies alike. These are, Primary mission, People and Planet, or the 3P’s, in short.
I think they are timely and relevant, and should be reiterated.