President Stevo Pendarovski addressed the participants of the Annual Forum of the “Vienna Initiative” hosted by the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia.
In his welcoming address, President Pendarovski pointed out that this Forum of the European Bank’s Coordination Initiative is being held at a time of numerous and intertwined crises that reinforce each other.
“The pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused a recession, an energy crisis and price shocks in global markets. Public debt and inflation continue to rise and inequality between and within states is deepening. These challenges confront us with the dilemma of how to maintain financial stability in an era of great uncertainty”, the President said, adding that solving any crisis requires coordination and cooperation.
“During the 2009 global financial crisis and during the European debt crisis, the “Vienna Initiative” contributed in a very responsible way to preserving the credibility of the financial and banking system. The financial stability of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe is naturally linked to the stability of the wider European and international financial system. Hence, the “Vienna Initiative” is the custodian of that common interest to which we should all contribute”, President Pendarovski said.
He expressed expectation that the cooperation will continue to be a guarantee of stability and predictability, because only together we can overcome crises, take advantage of digitalization, adapt to the Green Agenda and, in this way, build financial and economic systems which will be far more resistant to potential shocks.
The “Vienna Initiative” is an international framework for cooperation to maintain financial stability in the region of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
Governors of central banks from the CEE and senior representatives of the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Central Bank and the European Commission, as well as representatives from the banking sector, participate in the Annual Forum. The topics of the Forum are the current economic trends in the region, the challenges that central banks face in macroeconomic conditions with high economic and geopolitical uncertainty, as well as the structural changes that the financial system needs to deal with, above all in the domain of the green transition and the acceptance of new technological developments and digitization.
