’ ve helped bring small businesses together with lenders to help smooth access to credit. over the past year we have conducted ten access - to - credit events — workshops, clinics and conferences — for companies interested in learning about traditional and alternative sources of financing. we partnered with local and national government agencies, small business development centers and local nonprofit organizations to hold these events throughout the district. one such workshop was held recently in queens. the queens economic development corporation and the queens chamber of commerce, with support from the new york fed ’ s asian professional network alliance, co - sponsored a resource clinic for small businesses. the clinic offered an opportunity for attendees to receive one - on - one advice from several non - profit organizations on a wide range of topics, including which types of financing are most appropriate for their needs, what lenders look for in potential borrowers, alternatives to traditional bank loans and tips on improving their chances for success. these are just a few examples of the activities that reflect the bank ’ s commitment to the region. let me turn now to the subject matter of today ’ s briefing : the economic outlook for the regional economy. there is a lot of good news to share. many parts of the region have bounced back quite well from the great recession, and now have more jobs than before the downturn. new york city really stands out in this regard. while the great recession was the deepest and longest recession in modern history for the nation as a whole, new york city bucked that trend to a surprising degree, and did it with little help from wall street. as we will discuss later in the briefing, one of new york city ’ s strongest sectors has been technology. in this recovery, employment in the city ’ s tech sector has added nearly 50, 000 jobs, many of which pay well. the growth of the so - called silicon alley has not only helped the city bounce back from the recession, but, i believe, is a key for the city moving forward. when i visited brooklyn late last year, i saw firsthand how technology is spurring economic activity, directly and indirectly. for example, etsy, the popular e - commerce website, which in many ways resembles a retail company, relies on technology to underpin its business model. but it ’ s not just new york city that is growing nicely. employment levels on long island and in parts of upstate new york — most notably the albany, buffalo and rochester metro areas — have also climbed and are at or near

mr. duisenberg comments on the importance of the european pact for stability and growth address by dr. w. f. duisenberg, president of the netherlands bank and the bank for international settlements, on the occasion of his acceptance of the business week award, awarded by the business week committee of the economische faculteitsvereniging of the erasmus university in rotterdam on 20 / 3 / 97. it is a great honour for me to accept one of the two business week awards of 1997. i would like to thank the business week committee for awarding me this prestigious prize. also, i would like to congratulate my fellow award - winner professor franco modigliani, whose work has covered many fields in economics in general, and in the theory of monetary policy and finance in particular. as the theme of this year ’ s business week, the organising committee chose “ impact : all things are in a flux and nothing remains ”. the first part of the theme, “ impact ”, is certainly valid for the world of banking and finance. shifts in international capital flows have important repercussions on economic developments in individual countries and regions. changes in interest rates influence economic decisions by private companies and households, and consequently have an impact on our daily lives. furthermore, the establishment of european economic and monetary union will drastically change the institutional setting of money and monetary policy in the member states of the european union, and will have a strong positive impact on the economic development of europe in the next century. the second part of this year ’ s theme, “ all things are in flux and nothing remains ”, is somewhat more difficult for me to subscribe to. being a central banker, it is almost against my basic instinct to see all things as being in flux and that nothing remains. by nature, central bankers are strongly in favour of smooth and stable developments. however, this does not imply that we are against change. for example, the movement towards european economic and monetary union is a fundamental change from the past. what is important is that changes which have a significant impact on monetary and economic developments are embedded in structures of stability. the combination of policy impact and stability, that is the crucial issue for central bankers. therefore, in the european economic and monetary union, the policy impact and stability will be provided by an independent european central bank, the primary objective of which is to maintain price stability. to support this objective, the european economic and monetary union will have several