Nonetheless, potential emergencies arising from contamination from euro area partners would create additional difficulties and huge effective costs for the economies of the region. Therefore, we call for the establishment of appropriate mechanisms and instruments for liquidity provision by the European Union to peripheral euro area countries. I believe that the financial integration makes this common defence more urgent, through the right understanding of the common fate of our trade partner economies. I take the opportunity, given the presence of many central bank officials from the region, to call for an en bloc coordinated position in this regard. The experience of the latest crisis showed that the countries which had more space to react, in the form of healthier fiscal balances or the financial system, and in the form of more reliable public institutions, were able to cope better with the consequences of the crisis. This lesson should not be neglected. Among other things, it implies timely measures and, through counter-cyclical policies, establishment of the necessary space to buffer potential shocks. Likewise, it implies ongoing efforts by macro and micro-prudential policies to minimise financial misbalances across all the sectors of the economy and the financial market. These policies, which are often known as “leaning against the wind”, have been and will continue to be part in the logics behind the actions of the Bank of Albania. Concluding, I would like to assure you that the Bank of Albania will make maximum efforts to continue its success story into the third decade of its life.

The Bank of Albania became also an important institution for the development of the financial and economic systems in Albania. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  The challenges of the past 20 years have transformed the central Bank into a modern, responsible and credible institution; a centre of professionalism; an institution that applies the most modern methods of monetary management; the heart of the financial system. Aware of the decisive role that modern theories on economic growth assign to institutions for the prosperity of a nation, and taking advantage of the support from the political class and the trust of the Albanian society during these 20 years, the Bank of Albania has undertaken to transform itself into a modern institution and a dignified public entity across the institutional, moral, professional, ethical and intellectual dimensions. The Bank of Albania considers this as a highly significant task and contribution to state formation and prosperity in the future. Its efforts for the infrastructural and conceptual modernisation of the institution, including the Bank’s construction projects during the last three years, are a requisite to guarantee contemporary standards for the management of the activities of the institution. In other words, this literally implies rapid approximation with homologous institutions in Europe. Upon the completion of these projects, the Bank of Albania will be more opened to the public that will benefit from financial education policies, scientific research, library services, and legislative, history, museum, and numismatic-related activities.