Conducted by SMU and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the Asia Leaders Programme in Infrastructure Excellence aims to groom specialist talent to handle development projects in emerging markets. The course will begin its first run in October. This was announced by Minister for Trade and Industry Mr Lim Hng Kiang at the World Bank–Singapore Infrastructure Finance Summit on Tuesday. Mr Lim said that the programme is Singapore's way of cultivating talent to complement the growing base of firms with project development expertise. He added that Singapore supports the vision for infrastructure financing to be regarded as an asset class separate from traditional debt and equity investments.