PRESS RELEASE
Opening Speech by the Deputy Governor of the BoA, Mr.Fatos Ibrahimi, At the workshop organized in cooperation with the Convergence Program of the World Bank ''General introduction on Regulatory Impact Assessment and first practical application''

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is indeed a great pleasure to open the workshop on the "General introduction on Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) and first practical application" as part of the RIA Knowledge Transfer Program to be delivered by the Convergence Program of the World Bank. This workshop marks the beginning of the activities of the Special Projects Initiative (SPI) Albania that was launched on January 19th in Bari in the presence of Governor Fullani, the President of the Puglia Region Nichi Vendola, the high-ranking representatives from the Central Bank of Montenegro and the banking associations of the respective countries as well as the representatives from the Convergence Program of the World Bank, which promotes and manages the SPI Albania project.

The SPI Albania will build upon the positive outcomes of the similar projects carried out in Bulgaria and Romania. Its nature of a public-private partnership constitutes the most important characteristic of this project which will aim at the acceleration of the financial sector modernization in Albania by fostering a close dialogue and cooperation between the regulatory authorities and market participants in our country. In this context, the Bank of Albania remains fully committed to contribute to the successful implementation of this project by continuing to engage in a fruitful and continuous cooperation with the representatives of the banking system in accordance with the nature of this project.

The development of the evidence-based policy analysis skills in compliance with the EU's "Better Regulation" approach will constitute the cornerstone of the SPI Albania activities. These capacity-building activities will aim at acquainting the staff of the Albanian regulatory and supervisory institutions with the necessary expertise that will enable them to draft the impact assessments of the regulatory acts proposed by the respective authorities by employing the main tools and methodologies necessary for the evaluation of costs and benefits as well as for the preparation of the market failure analysis. It should be emphasized that the Albanian institutions are not quite familiar with the techniques of Regulatory Impact Assessment and therefore trainings such as this one are more than welcome.

Following the adoption of the new Banking Law in December 2006 and its entry into force in June 2007, which represented a further alignment of the Albanian banking legislation with the EU acquis, the Bank of Albania is currently in the process of reviewing the regulatory framework which will ensure the appropriate implementation of the said Law. In this framework, the preparation of the respective impact assessments for each proposed regulatory amendment in close consultations with the market participants remains one of the objectives of the Bank of Albania in the near future. These new analytical tools will certainly improve policy-making by placing a greater emphasis on the clarification of costs related to the enforcement and implementation of the adopted regulatory acts through the conduct of the respective cost-benefit analyses. At the same time, the use of these assessment techniques will enhance the transparency of policy-making by ensuring a better communication of the regulatory and supervisory authorities with market participants.

Let me conclude by thanking Mr. Bossone and Mr. Brogi from the Convergence Program as well as Ms. Wesseling from the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors for being among us today. It is my deep conviction that their presentations will prove to be highly beneficial and insightful to all participants.

I wish you a fruitful and interesting workshop.

Thank you.