Minister,
Your Excellences, Mr. Ambassadors,
Members of the diplomatic corps,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the National Bank of Romania. The Board and I are honored to host today a keynote speech given by a very distinguished guest, Professor Peter Praet, member of the Executive Board and chief economist of the European Central Bank.

Allow me to say a few words about our prominent guest.

Professor Praet joined the European Central Bank as Member of the Executive Board in 2011. He is responsible for Economics and Human Resources, Budget and Organization.

Before joining the ECB, Peter Praet worked, between 2000 and 2011, for the National Bank of Belgium as Executive Director for International Cooperation, Financial Stability and Oversight of Financial Infrastructures and Payments Systems. Between 2002 and 2011, he was also Member of the Management Committee of the Belgian Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission, where he was responsible for Prudential Policy for banking and insurance.

Peter Praet served as Chief of Cabinet for the Belgian Minister of Finance from 1999 to 2000, as Chief Economist of Générale de Banque and Fortis Bank from 1988 to 1999. He was a Professor of Economics at the Université libre de Bruxelles from 1980 to 1987. He also worked as an economist at the International Monetary Fund from 1978 to 1980.

Professor Praet graduated from Université libre de Bruxelles, with a BA in Economics, an MA in Economics in 1972, and PhD in Economics in 1980. He currently teaches money and banking at the Université libre de Bruxelles. From 2001 to 2004 he was Chair of Business Ethics at the Faculté polytechnique and the Solvay Business School of the Université libre de Bruxelles.

Peter Praet has also served on several high-level international committees, including: the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision; the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems; the Committee on the Global Financial System; the Committee of European Banking Supervisors, which later became the European Banking Authority. He was First Alternate of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements from 2000 to 2011.

Professor Praet held various positions within prestigious think tanks: member of the Board of Trustees of Bruegel between 2004 and 2011; member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Brussels Finance Institute between 2010 and 2011 and member of the Board of the European Policy Centre between 2004 and 2007.

So, ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, we have the privilege of having among us a personality of the European and I may say of the international financial community.

The title of today’s keynote speech is „Ensuring a sustained adjustment in inflation”. He will also talk about the importance of the central banks’ independence and about the Romanian economy.

The presentation will last for about 30 minutes and will be followed by a short Q&A session.

Professor Praet, you have the floor.

Thank you.