available on our website. if analyzed in details, its granularity is very high, offering a great deal of information on the amount of interest on different types of deposit and credit products, which can be helpful for all of us to make a 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches personal financial decision based on information. as one of the bearers of our statistical system, we also observe the public ’ s need for new categories of statistical data and within our competencies we try to respond to that need. among other things, we have introduced new data on payment card transactions, the monitoring of which will be discussed today. over the past years, aware that traditional forms of data display are no longer the most appropriate way of disseminating data, with the support of the european union we have created a modern statistical web portal “ nbstat ". according to multiple analyzes conducted in the central banking community, advanced web - based statistical web portals are the most upto - date statistical tool that disseminates data in the simplest, fastest and most detailed way. we now have a web portal that offers such opportunities, identical to the statistical portals of many european union countries. the presentation within the today ’ s workshop is the first since its launching. the national bank ’ s plan of activities we adopted yesterday also includes a project to further improve the availability and understanding of our press releases, information, data. in one of the first phases of the project, we plan to conduct surveys in order to obtain opinion from you, the journalists, as well as from other users of our information and data. but even before we embark on such a project activity, we would greatly value your suggestions and ideas, which will surely be an important road map for us to develop our communication with the public. according to recent releases, we are one of the most transparent central banks in the region and actually very close to the average index of eastern european countries and the ecb. 1 of course, there is room for further improvement to approach more advanced economies, or the euro area as a whole. i believe that you, with your ratings and comments, will help us achieving this goal. a good opportunity for this will be the open discussion that is foreseen in the closing part of today ’ s event. in the end, for modern central banks, the rule “ it would be good to have ” no longer applies, but the rule “ it must have ” good, open communication with the public. it

anita angelovska bezhoska : strengthening of the institutional capacity of the nbrnm in the process of its accession to the escb speech by ms anita angelovska bezhoska, governor of the national bank of the republic of north macedonia, at the opening conference of the twinning project " strengthening of the institutional capacity of the nbrnm in the process of its accession to the escb ", skopje, 30 october 2019. * * * your excellency gerberich, dear mr. janmaat, secretary vucic, representatives of the central banks of germany and croatia, ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to address you at today ’ s event to mark the launch of a particularly important project that we expect to contribute to our further profiling as a modern central bank, with strong capacity and readiness to join the european family of central banks. the european union has been important institutional, economic and political benchmark for us from the outset of the transition process. the eu pre - accession process itself provides key tools that support and reinforce the reform process in a country aspiring to full membership, thereby strengthening its institutional capacity and economic foundations. faster institutional and economic convergence, including faster convergence to the european central bank values, will also mean faster integration into the european family. that is why we, at the national bank, have been strengthening our capacity through various modalities, often with direct eu support using the available tools. active use of taex programs and direct bilateral cooperation with eu central banks are just some of the modalities used to strengthen our infrastructure in various operating segments. in this light, i think it is worth recalling the 2012 ipa project whose primary purpose was a detailed screening of our compliance with the european legislation and practices and a clear identification of gaps. i am pleased that today, thanks to the commitment of my colleagues, many of the gaps identified during the project have already been filled. in today ’ s dynamic environment, however, where european legislation is undergoing major changes, harmonization with european standards is an ongoing process that implies permanent strengthening of the institutions ’ capacities. on behalf of the national bank, i sincerely thank the eu for standing behind us and our efforts for further alignment of the rules, policies and operations with the european standards, with a view to further strengthening macroeconomic and financial stability. by supporting this project, we have been given confidence that we will undoubtedly justify by delivering concrete results. project activities encompass four central banking areas