jurgen stark : the imf in a changing world ( opening address ) opening address by dr jurgen stark, vice president of the deutsche bundesbank, at the joint imf - bundesbank symposium “ the imf in a changing world ”, frankfurt, 8 june 2005. * i * * welcome and introduction ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the deutsche bundesbank i would like to welcome you to the joint imf - bundesbank symposium. i would like to extend a warm welcome to the panellists and their chairs of today ’ s event. it is a particular pleasure and honour for me to welcome mr rodrigo de rato, the managing director of the imf, who will give the keynote address of this symposium in a few moments. even though long planned in advance, i find this symposium is particularly timely. the role of the imf continues to be the subject of lively public debate around the world – mostly supportive in industrialized countries, but recently also increasingly critical in asia and latin america. a medium - term strategy for the imf is now also a key agenda item not only at the imf itself but also at the g7 / g8. related to this discussion about the role of the imf is also a debate – and i mention only the words exchange rate flexibility and global imbalances – about the evolution of the international monetary and financial system. another important dimension in a rapidly changing world is the possible role of the imf in low - income countries. all of these issues will feature prominently at the forthcoming g8 summit in gleneagles in july and again at the annual meetings of the imf and world bank in september. on many issues a broad consensus has already been reached, on some issues the consensus formation is still work - in - progress. so it will be interesting to see to what extent this symposium will be able to reflect or may be even to advance the current state of the international policy debate, and i am very pleased, not only on behalf of the bundesbank, but on behalf of all participants that we have such a timely opportunity. our symposium is organized in three panels : ii • § in the first panel, we will discuss as to whether the international monetary system does function efficiently at present ; • § the focus of the second panel will be on international financial stability and the respective contributions from national policies and international institutions ; • § the third panel will concentrate on the role of the imf in the international monetary and financial

by the g - 20 to enhance the exchange of information and cooperation regarding financial access. having said these, i believe that the cbt study entitled “ access to financial services and financial education in turkey and around the world ” will become an important reference regarding this issue. the booklet is now accessible on the cbt website as well as in the conference cd and is will be in print soon. in the last part of my speech, i would like to mention some specific points regarding financial education within the framework of this conference. in the first session, we will discuss the relationship between financial education and financial stability and contribution of financial education to the functioning of the financial system. then we will move on to the impact of the recent global financial crisis on the rising issue of financial education and financial awareness. taking into account the importance of benefiting from other countries ’ experiences while formulating national financial education strategies and programs, in the second session we will focus on financial education practices around the world. i believe that this session will yield very useful inferences. in the third session, we will listen to experiences of those countries that have made significant progress in designing their national financial education strategies and we will learn their methods, challenges and suggestions for solutions as well as the outcomes they obtained. on the second day of the conference, we will elaborate the current efforts on financial education in turkey and the roles and responsibilities of all relevant stakeholders. at this point, the cooperation between institutions will play an instrumental role in designing national strategies. the implementation of education programs is as important as designing financial education strategies and this issue will be thoroughly discussed in the sixth and last session of the conference. as the central bank of turkey, we strongly believe that the significance of financial education is far beyond its conceptual meaning and we attach great importance to collaborating with national and international institutions in this area. we believe that this conference with the valuable contribution of the capital markets board will be a milestone. i wish the conference every success and thank everyone who has made a contribution. bis central bankers ’ speeches