PRESS RELEASE
19th Meeting of the Central Bank Governors' Club of the Central Asia, Black Sea Region and Balkan Countries

The 19th Meeting of the Central Bank Governors' Club of the Central Asia, Black Sea Region and Balkan Countries was held on 23-24 May 2008 in Tirana, under the auspices of Mr. Ardian Fullani, Governor of the Bank of Albania as well as Deputy Chairman of this Club for the time period 2007-2008.

The governors of the central banks of Bosnia - Herzegovina, Greece, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Montenegro, Russia, as well as the Governor of the National Bank Serbia, who currently serves as the Chairman of the Club, participated in this Meeting.

The Meeting was also attended by the Vice-Governor of the National Bank of Moldova, the Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Romania, the Deputy Governor of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia as well as by representatives from the central banks of Azerbaijan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Bulgaria and Israel.

Mr. Lucas Papademos, Vice - President of European Central Bank, greeted the Tirana meeting and held a speech on the ways to cope with the financial market turmoil, focusing on the restoring of confidence and the strengthening of financial market resilience. The meeting continued with the speeches delivered by Mr. Athanasios Orphanides, Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus, who presented the Cypriot experience concerning accession to the European Union and the Eurozone, as well as with the presentation of Mr. Mario I. Blejer, Former Governor of the Central Bank of Argentina, who focused on the main challenges that central banks in emerging markets currently face. The concluding session of the Meeting continued with the presentations delivered by the representatives of the participating central banks. on the economic developments in the respective countries, with a special focus on the state of their financial systems in general and of their banking systems in particular, as well as on the activity of central banks in these countries.

The Governors' Club, established in 1998, represents a forum of central banks, which aims at strengthening the relations between the central banks of the region, to promote the cooperation on monetary, financial and banking issues as well as to encourage the exchange of national experiences in an open and direct environment. The Bank of Albania is a member of this Club ever since its establishment.