PRESS RELEASE
High-level seminar “South East Europe: Pre-requisites for Reform” organised by the Bank of Albania in cooperation with the University of Oxford

The Bank of Albania in cooperation with the University of Oxford, organised on 14 June 2012, a high-level seminar on: Southeast Europe: Pre-requisites for Reform.

This seminar was attended by the Albanian Minister for Finance Mr. Ridvan Bode, the Governor of the Central Bank of Montenegro Mr. Radoje Zugiç, the Governor of the Central Bank of Kosovo Mr. Gani Gërguri, the Deputy Governor of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia Ms. Anita Angelovska-Bezoska, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Turkey Mr. Turalay Kenç, representatives of the banking system, state institutions, international organisations in Albania, and representatives from the Bank of Albania. This seminar was organised in the framework of a cooperation agreement between the Bank of Albania and University of Oxford, signed in September 2010.

The seminar focused on developments in the economies of the SEE region, their challenges and reforms that need to be undertaken, also in light of recent developments in the euro area. The discussants said that the continuation of reforms is pivotal as regards responding to the economic slowdown throughout the region. As the space for fiscal stimulus narrows and concerns about the financial markets increase, comprehensive and structural reforms are needed. Better coordination of economic and financial policies has become a necessity to guarantee further macro-economic stability in the region. Other issues included the role of external and domestic anchors, as well as the main adjustment mechanisms for our countries' steady economic development towards macroeconomic and financial stability.

In his speech, Mr. Ardian Fullani, the Governor of the Bank of Albania, said that the Bank of Albania will continue to tend to Albania's macro-economic and financial stability, a solid pillar and substantial contributor to the stability, prosperity and development of the economy. This would also help attract foreign investments and new capital inflows to boost the country's economic activity.