the first of which is aimed at mediterranean and latin american countries, to be held in the spring of 2019. allow me to take this opportunity to invite you to join this exchange of experiences in one of the aspects that is increasingly relevant to our institutions. the theme of this conference, economic policies, trade integration and sustainable job creation, is particularly timely at this current juncture of the world economy. the world remains in an expansionary phase although there are some signs pointing to a gradual change in the global economic landscape. some of the risks that had been the focus of our attention are beginning to materialise. in particular, we are witnessing a re - emergence of protectionist measures with pernicious effects on international trade. beyond the impact that this can have on growth in the short term, its potential impact on the diffusion of technological advances and on improving the welfare of individuals is more worrisome. in 3 / 4 order to preserve the benefits derived from globalisation and technological innovation, it is now more important than ever to work towards a fairer and stronger global trade system. to this end, it is necessary to work on the reform of the rules governing international trade to ensure that all countries compete on a level playing field. but also, and not least, domestic policy - makers have a responsibility to design the right policies for stimulating innovation and job creation, and creating opportunities for all. i am sure that the participants in the different sessions scheduled today will elaborate more on the best economic policies to ensure that globalisation and technological innovation will continue contributing to economic growth and prosperity in an increasing number of countries. ladies and gentlemen, i leave the floor now to the president of the executive committee of the european institute of the mediterranean, mr. senen florensa, thanking him for the cooperation in the organisation of this event and, of course, thanking you all for your presence here today. 4 / 4

, perhaps, even to create new business opportunities. take the potential possibility to fractionalise real - world assets ( especially non - tradable ones ), through 1 / 6 bis - central bankers'speeches tokenisation, which opens a wide door to, among other things, an expansion of the investor base and broadening the range of collateral that is available and acceptable, beyond traditional items. the flip side of digital assets are, however, their inherent risks which, as just demonstrated by the collapse of ftx, can have far - reaching implications for their very markets and, eventually, spill over to the regulated financial system through various types of exposures for conventional players. hence, authorities need to develop and deploy swift and appropriate regulatory responses, of which, i think, mica is a telling example. the european union's regulation on markets in crypto - assets, on which we have acted as one of the advisors to the spanish treasury, lays down a set of common rules applicable to both crypto - asset issuers and service providers with a view to providing crypto - asset users with legal certainty and adequate legal protection. in the same way as we deal with banks, mica foresees an ex - ante authorisation of the new types of crypto - asset service providers. moreover, it sets out a number of prudential, organisational and transparency requirements, as well as others relating to the safekeeping of client funds, conflicts of interest and outsourcing. with regard to their issuance and offering, mica introduces rules on both the authorisation of the respective players and on how to draft the " white paper " that should reflect all the necessary and accurate information future investors may require. mica leaves outside its scope non - fungible crypto - assets. furthermore, it does not apply to crypto - assets that may be classed as financial instruments. the latter will still be governed by the existing legislation on financial services. yet, mica stands out from other legislative initiatives in how it tackles stablecoins, of which it distinguishes two types : electronic money ( e - money ) tokens and asset - referenced tokens. e - money tokens purport to maintain a stable value by referencing to the value of one official currency. as such, they are considered electronic money. their issuers are limited to credit institutions and electronic money institutions, which must comply with mica and the existing provisions in this field. asset - referenced tokens