albania has always been and remains frontrunner of change. 3. bank of albania, an evolving institution throughout the transition history, the bank of albania has shown able to change and embrace better contemporary and most effective practices. the nature and functions of the institution were fundamentally transformed in 1992, when the albanian economy started the transition process towards a free market economy. within a short period of time and in the presence of a shortage of an institutional heritage, the bank of albania succeeded to establish the contours of an independent monetary policy, being empowered in the presence of a free - floating exchange rate, regulate and supervise a private banking sector that functions based on the market principles. the qualitative transformation of the bank of albania towards a modern central bank evolved further with the approval of the new law on the bank of albania in 1997, which lays down the primary objective “ to achieve and maintain price stability ”. this law sets out the decision - making, financial and operational independence of the central bank in the pursuit of its objectives, in line with the best international practices. in addition, it is encouraging that this institutional independence enjoys a broad social consensus. during these years of transition, our monetary policy has marked a notable progress towards : developing a theoretical framework ; building up the completion of our knowledge with empirical studies ; perfecting the instruments for its implementation ; and the transparent communication with the public. since 2015, we have formally adopted “ the inflation targeting regime ”. this regime provides the adequate incentives, discipline and flexibility to the maximisation of the longterm social welfare. in parallel with the evolution of the monetary policy, the bank of albania, in years, has built on a modern and effective regulatory banking framework, in line with the best international practices. from time we have implemented the regulatory standards incorporated in basel i, ii and iii. then, we have helped the establishment of the albanian deposit insurance agency ( adisa ) and the resolution framework. these two elements are crucial for the stability of the financial system. in addition, we have been working in collaboration with other public authorities, on the development of the complete supervisory and regulatory architecture. i would like to mention in this regard the establishment of the financial supervisory authority ( fsa ) and the financial stability advisory group ( fsag ). in the light of such a historical background of development and evolution, the bank of albania has shown itself an institution able to be adapted and change to keep up with the times. in parallel, the gradual, well -

ardian fullani : imagine the future – for a better economic cooperation. economic chamber ’ s and bank ’ s responsibilities speech by mr ardian fullani, governor of the bank of albania, at the 10th vienna economic forum, vienna, 7 may 2014. * * * dear ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues and participants of the vienna economic forum, i am honoured and delighted to return and speak to such a constructive and important economic forum, discussing with you the economic development topics, which affect the present and the future of our economies. the topic of this forum is very important for the economies of the south east europe. it creates the proper environment, which enables the examination of the problems faced by our economies during the crises. we can certainly draw few lessons from what we have learned during the recent years, following the global economic and financial crises. these discussions and the harmonization of economic policies will help us to project a strong coordinated economic structure for the long term future of our economies. it is particularly important to converge here in vienna and discus the cooperation issue because one of the obvious outcomes ( lessons ) of the developments during the recent years is that the economic developments in particular for small open economies of the south east european region, are not local or regional anymore. just like the flu, it is rather unexceptional and highly transmittable from one economy to the other, from one sector of the economy to the other. most importantly, european economies and their financial systems, among which the austrian financial system enjoys a significant share of the market, define the globalization for the region and are, to a large extent, important determinants for the success or failure of these economies. given the large share of the european financial groups, they have and will play an important role in the transmission of global shocks in the region. what is more important, they have a significant role in the transmission of legislative and regulative shocks carried over by european monetary and supervisory authorities. the size is such that even a simple change in the future business plans of a single european financial institution can transform into real shocks for the economies of the region. it became evident during the crisis and afterwards that an increase in risk and uncertainty, led to increased incentives for banks to withdraw from the emerging europe economies. though this was mostly prevented due to increased cooperation through institutions such as the vienna initiative, the concerns from our perspective have not completely dissipated. in this respect the business plan of eu based groups can play a potentially important role in the