jean - claude trichet : welcome message at the annual general assembly of the manufacturers ’ association of israel ( mai ) speech by mr jean - claude trichet, president of the european central bank, at the annual general assembly of the manufacturers ’ association of israel ( mai ), tel aviv, 21 january 2010. * * * dear president brosh, ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure for me to extend a welcome message to the annual general assembly of the manufacturers ’ association of israel. your meeting is taking place in challenging times for the global, european and israeli economies. not surprisingly, israel, as a very open economy, has been adversely affected by the global financial crisis. i also note that the israeli economy has been quite resilient compared with other advanced economies. israel can rightfully take pride in its recent economic performance, as well as in its achievements in economic development more broadly. your country has close economic ties with europe and is highly integrated into the global economy, so i think it would be useful to consider two questions : what is the outlook for the euro area economy ; and what are the lessons of the global financial crisis? in the euro area, real gdp growth in the third quarter of last year returned to positive territory following five quarters of contraction. we expect the euro area economy to grow at a moderate pace in 2010. i should add, though, that the recovery process is likely to be uneven, and the outlook remains subject to high uncertainty. the upside and downside risks are broadly balanced. on the upside, there may be stronger than anticipated effects stemming from the extensive macroeconomic stimulus that has been provided by the authorities. confidence may also improve further and foreign trade may recover more strongly than projected. on the downside, concerns remain as regards negative interactions between the real economy and the financial sector, which may be stronger or more protracted than expected. renewed increases in oil and other commodity prices, the intensification of protectionist pressures and disruptive market movements related to the correction of global external imbalances remain other downside risks for economic developments in the euro area and beyond. budget deficits in euro area countries must be reduced in a timely fashion to maintain confidence in public finances. avoiding protectionism and disruptive market movements related to global imbalances will require a high degree of international cooperation among policy makers in advanced and emerging market economies. this brings me to my second point : what are the lessons of the financial crisis? given the magnitude and the negative

respect of contractual customer rights, also help customers in selecting adequate financial products and contribute to maintaining the solvency of customers. therefore, given the importance and complexity of consumer protection, cbk has organized consumer protection activities in two main pillars, consisting of consumer complaints and financial education. by reviewing complaints, cbk intends to ensure the implementation of all contractual rights and obligations between financial institutions and customers, in cases where customers consider that such a thing has never happened. in recent years, the number of financial institutionsa€™ customers lodging a complaint to cbk regarding the implementation of their contractual rights has increased. we consider that the increase of the number of complaints directly reflects the higher awareness of customers about the right and the possibility of complaining, which is contributing to the better protection of their rights, but it is also contributing to the rectifying and advancement of internal processes in financial institutions in providing and further developing financial services as well as avoiding various errors. consumer complaints represent a very important source of information for cbk, which often takes them into account during the supervisory activities of financial institutions. in addition to activities to address possible violations by financial institutions in relation to consumer rights, cbk is working intensively on financial education of the public, which aims to increase the level of public knowledge about financial products and their rights in relation to the financial institution. also, in addition to its activities in promoting financial education, cbk continuously encourages financial institutions to increase their activity in support of increasing public knowledge about financial products, as well - informed customers take reasonable action and contribute directly to further development and maintenance of financial stability. cbk also gives its contribution to consumer protection as a member of the consumer protection council, an inter - institutional body that aims to provide a harmonized and comprehensive approach to ensure consumer rights protection in kosovo. the establishment and functionalization of this council indicates the orientation of the institutions of the republic of kosovo, which have put consumer protection at the top of their priorities. at the conclusion of my speech, i would like to emphasize our commitment in ensuring a financial system to the country's economy, which contributes in the best way possible to the economic development of the country and, at the same time, conducts the financial intermediation activity while respecting all legal and regulatory provisions.