that have higher economic growth than macedonia and you offer it as evidence that such policy gives better results. i will find another sample of countries with flexible exchange rate that have lower growth than macedonia. it is not economic analysis, it is manipulation. i am still waiting for someone to offer a plausible analysis of how the change of the exchange rate regime will boost economic growth. except naive statements in the media, so far no one has offered such an analysis. in the economic literature, it has long been concluded that the exchange rate regime does not affect economic growth. do you think that macedonia has an efficient economic model and exchange rate regime if it records economic growth rates which do not exceed 3 – 4 percent, and everybody agrees that it is necessary to have growth of over 8 percent? it is very naive to link economic growth only with the exchange rate regime. economic growth is a very complex phenomenon that depends on about a hundred of factors. competitiveness of an economy does not depend only on the exchange rate. take the global competitiveness index of the world economic forum. it takes into account more than one hundred indicators for measuring the competitiveness of countries. if someone believes that macedonia will realize an 8 percent growth rate only if the exchange rate regime is changed, i am left speechless. the change in the exchange rate is used as an instrument for improving the competitiveness only when the country has failed to improve other factors and there is no other choice. but it is only a short term solution that will quickly exhaust the effects, because devaluation will bring high inflation and in the end only the nominal exchange rate is changed, and the real exchange rate will remain the same. and then again demands for a new devaluation. look at the history of the european monetary union. what was the exchange rate policy of greece, italy, spain, before the introduction of the ecu ( the predecessor of the euro ). instead of structural reforms, they constantly corrected their weaknesses with a devaluation of the exchange rate. when they entered the euro area it was no longer possible and it has led to what we see today. they require internal devaluation of about 30 percent to restore lost competitiveness. by contrast, countries such as austria, the netherlands ( denmark, which still has its own currency ) have always led policy of a fixed exchange rate pegged to the german mark. to be competitive, they had to increase their bis central bankers ’ speeches efficiency with structural measures. therefore these countries have no problems

building. bearing all these in mind, one cannot be oblivious to the role which the training centers, such as the cef, do have in building the architecture of knowledge. in fact, the global crisis accentuated even more their importance. they embrace and combine the latest theoretical and practical views, trying to spread the new ideas and help policymakers deliver optimal policy responses. the cef has proved to be a leading institution in helping policy makers to improve institutional capacities. main instruments used to achieve this objective are training, to promote awareness of international standards and best practices in public financial management and central banking, as well as provision of technical assistance. also, it serves as a platform for exchange of information and for discussing and learning about different policy challenges. by closely monitoring the implementation of the reforms and mapping further reform needs, it designs up - to date and demand - driven capacity building programs. the cef serves as a regional network that focuses on the regional issues offering regional solutions, to the extent possible. at the same time, as one shock does not always symmetrically affect all of us, and not all the policy responses are alike, by gathering all of us, sharing of valuable experiences is enabled. looking forward, the eu integration remains a main anchor for the macroeconomic policies in the region. we are all facing similar problems and challenges in our efforts to bring our national economies up to the eu standards. the convergence process appears to be a bumpy and thorny road, but worthy as it will finally lead to better living standards of our nations, which is a final objective of each government. in this light, i strongly believe that the cef will continue to play a crucial role on our way towards the eu integration. this event will be focused on a topic that emphasizes the importance of human capital as one of the essential assets of each institution. for the institutions that are socially responsible and work for the benefit of all citizens, the most important indicator for measuring the success in achieving their strategic goals, is the quality of the policies. one of the biggest and toughest tasks of the hrm function, is probably managing the knowledge and building the expertise of intellectual force of the institution, through continuous training and professional development. in order to be effective, organisations must be able to understand that human capital alone will not create value. people have to be motivated and managed by the use of good human resource practices and given the opportunity to develop and use their skills to create valuable goods and services. if the knowledge