do their part. by excluding them, we deprive not only women, but also society of better results and progress. women are as talented as men. and among them there are differences as much as there are among men. this means that it ’ s always possible for a group of men to find a woman who shares their views – who also thinks that women are inferior and should be excluded. my guiding principle in life is the results i achieve. 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches there are powerful women who stand behind their name, expertise and work ; those whose modesty is keeping them in the shadow of the men they work for ; but there are also those who claim power from powerful men. the power of each of these categories shows how society treats women, but also how women need to be more supportive of women. just as i believe that it is wrong not to promote someone only because that person is a woman, i also believe it is equally wrong to give someone a chance only because that person is a woman. i select my associates based on their professional merits and human qualities, not their gender. in my opinion it is crucial that any position should be held by a professional – with adequate knowledge, experience, character and honesty. i can personally confirm that the national bank of serbia, which i ’ m heading for more than seven years now, does not seek to meet quotas in order to advance women in leading positions. the persons who are currently at the head of our organisational parts are all experts with a good deal of experience. all of them have a sense of responsibility and teamwork. i know that such a balanced and modern approach has yielded a significant contribution to the success which the national bank of serbia, as an institution, is recording today in terms of fulfilling its mandate. with dedicated work we have achieved not only low and stable inflation, but have also anchored inflation expectations of the financial, corporate and household sectors within the target tolerance band for quite some time now. this is a proof of the confidence we have built up since i came to the helm of the national bank of serbia. it is owing to this stability and the continued improvement in the business environment that serbia is one of the few countries in the region that have kept their gdp growth projections and posted record - high fdi inflows. interest rates on loans have been lowered, lending activity and banking system stability have increased, the level of non - performing loans is down to the lowest level on record,

ishrat husain : the health challenge in pakistan - prognosis and prescription chief guest address by mr ishrat husain, governor of the state bank of pakistan, at the launch of the human development report of south asia, organised by mahbubul haq center for human development, islamabad, 30 may 2005. * * * there is a strong theoretical and empirical evidence that economic growth causes improvements in human development which, in turn, increases economic growth. the improvement in health results in enhancement of basic capabilities that adds value to human life. the transmission to growth takes place through impact on worker productivity, through demography and through trade and investment. health has a positive effect on poverty reduction too. poor households are hit by major illness and fall into poverty trap. lower earnings due to withdrawal from full time employment increases the risk of illness for the rest of the households. risk of falling below poverty becomes acute in case of death of the bread winner of the family. thus, investment in health, particularly preventive health such as availability of clean drinking water and sanitation can contribute to growth and minimize the risk of falling below the poverty line. there is no doubt that pakistan ’ s social indicators are not something we can feel proud of. pakistan ’ s competitiveness in the future knowledge based economy of the world will critically depend upon how well we are able to harness and increase the productivity of labor force for meeting future challenges. it is no longer a cliche that those lag behind in human development are going to become marginalized. it is all the more surprising to note this poor state of affairs at a time that there is almost unanimity on the intellectual front and broad consensus on the political front on the importance of human development in attaining national prosperity. both the economists and non - economists have converged their views on the critical role education and training, health and nutrition play in economic development. those on the left, those in the center and conservatives also have identical views though due to different reasons. all political parties in pakistan are committed to human development as a policy objective. why is it then that the progress in this area has been so unsatisfactory and what can be done to remedy this situation? in my view there are four cogent reasons for lack of progress in human development in pakistan. first, there is a structural ambiguity in the allocation of responsibilities between the federal, provincial and local governments in the whole endeavour of human development. the overlap and duplication in