The NBR Hosted the 9th Meeting of the Governors' Club in the Region of Black Sea, Balkans and Central Asia
The meeting of Central Bank Governors' Club in the region of Black Sea, Balkans and Central Asia was held on 23-24 May 2003 in Bucharest. The NBR governor, Mugur Isărescu, presided the works of the meeting.
The meeting was attended by the club's members, representing the central banks of Albania, Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and Romania.
The Governors' Club was established in May 1998 to enhance banking co-operation between member countries. Among the top priorities of this organisation are to ensure the well functioning of money and foreign-exchange markets, to step up economic and financial co-operation, and to debate other matters of common interest for the participating countries.
The National Bank of Romania joined the Governors' Club ever since its establishment. Since 2002, Mugur Isărescu has been the president of this powerful financial organisation that gathers together central banks in three strategic regions of the world. It is in this capacity that Mr. Isărescu presided this year's meeting in Bucharest, which was hosted by the National Bank of Romania.
During the Bucharest meeting, talks occasioned a useful exchange of information and perspectives on political, social and economic developments in the region, the trends in the financial and banking system, as well as monetary developments. Among the hotly debated issues were inflation targeting, capital flows, and ensuring the fulfilment of EU criteria by the economies in the above-mentioned region.
Special guests at the Bucharest meeting were the following: Fabrizio Saccomani - EBRD vice-president, Stephen Nickell - member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee and professor at the London School of Economics, Luigi Passamonti - senior advisor at the World Bank, and Bruce Jackson - president of the US Committee on NATO. Their presentations stirred up a lively interest and heated debates.