PRESS RELEASE
On the activities of the Governor of the Bank of Albania, Mr. Ardian Fullani, in the framework of the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, April 2009

The Governor of the Bank of Albania, Mr. Ardian Fullani, heading a delegation of the Bank of Albania, attended the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, held in Washington, USA during 24 -26 April, 2009.

The Spring Meetings of IMF& WBG are conceived as an open forum, where the governors of the member countries are brought together to discuss on the recent global implications and exchange the views of their respective countries on the current issues concerning the international economy and finances. This year, the Spring meetings were focused on the assessment of the recent economic background around the world due to the financial crisis and the discussion of different actions taken for the purpose to overcome this situation.

The meetings that took place aimed to make present to the managing directors of these institutions the recent economic and financial occurrences as well as the current and long-term challenges the country is facing.

Governor Fullani concluded various meetings, where we distinguish those that took place with Mr. Murilo Portugal, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF); with Mr. Arrigo Sadun, Executive Director for Albania in IMF; with Mr. Gerwin Bell, Chief of IMF Mission for Albania; the meetings with Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo - Iweala, Deputy Managing Director of the World Bank Group, with Mr. Shigeo Katsu, Regional Vice President, Europe and Central Asia, the World Bank; with Mrs. Jane Armitage, Country Director and Regional Coordinator for the South East Europe.

In all the conducted meetings, the Governor made a wide expose of the macroeconomic situation as well as of the banking and financial system in Albania. Mr. Fullani responding to the interest shown by the negotiators made them known with all the measures taken by the Bank of Albania for the purpose of minimizing the effects of the global financial crisis against the Albanian banking system.

During His stay in Washington, Governor Fullani participated in the seminar titled 'Economic Stability and European Union Convergence in Southeast Europe: Building capacities for policy design and implementation' jointly hosted by the Centre of Excellence in Finance (CEF), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Commission (EC). This round table was attended by high-level managers of the aforesaid institutions as well as by the highest representative authorities from varies countries of the Southeast Europe.

The Seminar was focused on the need of building implementation capacities in the Southeast Europe countries, which are facing important challenges. In this context, it was highlighted the valuable support that the international institutions provide, particularly in light of the current circumstances of the global crisis in the financial markets. Governor Fullani, in his speech, addressed the need that the Southeast Europe countries should anchor their activity by external anchors. These latter must be materialised as quantity indicators for both the progress and the structural reforms' package. Only in this way it shall be achieved the systematic and ongoing approach of the region with the European Union standards for years, as long as these countries succeed to converge with the incomes of the European family.

If you are interested for the complete speech held by Mr. Fullani please visit the Bank of Albania official website at http://www.bankaofalbania.org/.