US Secretary of State John Kerry told an audience here yesterday that the United States will launch a roadshow across the region to promote innovation and entrepreneurship.

Mr Kerry said senior economic officials and chief innovation and technology officers from leading companies will show young people how to grow their businesses.

They will also help government officials create a favourable environment for start-ups and innovation.

Mr Kerry noted that "commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship" is a comparative advantage that both Singapore and the US enjoy and one he wants the rest of Asia to learn from.

He told the gathering of about 260 government officials, diplomats and Singapore Management University (SMU) students that trade, investment, the clean energy revolution, growing the middle class and connecting them to the global market are the key themes underscoring the prosperity shared by the US and countries in the Asia-Pacific.

"This is a moment of exceptional opportunity for the Asia-Pacific. We're nearing the completion of a historic Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement on trade... investing at unprecedented levels and promoting high standards when it comes to business practices," said Mr Kerry. "We're doubling down on clean energy and creating the right kind of growth... working together to upgrade education and grow the middle class."

Mr Kerry also said that the US is committed to finding innovative ways to finance modern, sustainable infrastructure in the region through new loan programmes at the World Bank and Asian Development Bank and by mobilising the resources and sophistication of US capital markets.

He noted that China's establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is an effort to improve the region's infrastructure and create good jobs.

"We support that effort but we want that effort to be transparent and be accountable in the same ways that other international finance organisations are," he said, adding that, while this could complement existing efforts, it should "meet the same high standards".

Borrowing from a remark that the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew made in his first official visit to the US in October 1967, Mr Kerry said that the path to shared prosperity between the US and the region requires a combination of "patience and prudence, resolution and restraint".

The event at SMU was organised by the US Embassy, the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and the US-Asean Business Council.