Growth of GDP the new economic statecraft: Clinton

SINGAPORE - United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US was moving economics to the centre of its foreign policy as it moves to secure its position as a world leader.

Saying that military might was no longer that big a factor in being a global power, Mrs Clinton said the size of the growth of a country's GDP was becoming increasingly important.

She was speaking at the Singapore Management University at an event co-hosted by the US-ASEAN Business Council. Earlier on Saturday, Mrs Clinton was hosted to breakfast by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong .

During the breakfast, PM Lee affirmed the warm bilateral relations and welcomed the continued commitment by the Obama Administration to engage the region. In this regard, PM Lee expressed appreciation for Secretary Clinton's important role in ensuring the sustained and broad-based US engagement of the region, including in the economic sphere, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.