By Zakaria Abdul Wahab

SINGAPORE, Sept 23 (Bernama) -- The trade secrets of Singapore government's huge sovereign wealth fund and foreign investment arm are out.

The workings of the fund, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation or better known as GIC, was made public by its Deputy Chairman and Executive Director Dr Tony Tan when he presented the first "Report on the Management of the Governments Portfolio for the Year 2007/08" here today.

The release of the 48-page report is a significant milestone in GICs 27-year history as it described how GIC is managed, how it invests its funds and develops its people and how its portfolio has performed globally since it was set up in 1981.

GIC, one of the world's largest fund management companies, boasts a portfolio of US$100 billion.

The Singapore government has another similar huge foreign investment arm in Temasek Holdings which manages a portfolio of over US$134 billion.

Tan said he had hinted about the report when he attended the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January, where he stated that the GIC was preparing to put out a formal document to provide more information on its purpose, processes, governance, goals and values.

He said the GIC, a professional fund management company responsible for investing Singapore's reserves, believed such clarity and disclosure would benefit and raise the understanding of both the Singapore public and the international investment community.