gent sejko : address at the “ neither old nor new, i am simply lek! ” awareness campaign launch address by mr gent sejko, governor of the bank of albania, at the launching of awareness campaign : “ neither old nor new, i am simply lek! ”, 17 november 2021. * * * honourable professor civici, honourable dr. treska, dear participants, colleagues, and media representatives, i have the pleasure to welcome you in this very important day for the bank of albania on the occasion of launching the awareness campaign : “ neither old nor new, i am simply lek! ”. this new initiative of our institution in the field of financial education is part of a broad corpus of programmes and projects in the framework of comprehending and taking care of the national currency and banknote. it is the materialisation of the bank of albania ’ s efforts to fulfil the recommendations of the albanian parliament embodied in the resolution on the assessment of our institution activity, for eliminating the use of outdated terms “ new lek ” - “ old lek ”. we are conscious, that unfortunately, this happens perpetually, not only in day - to - day communication amid citizen, also in their economic and financial interactions, thus becoming either intentionally or not a source of misunderstandings. before presenting this campaign, allow me to briefly address this phenomenon on the historical perspective, how it has arisen. the monetary reform in 1965 replaced the earliest lek banknotes with new ones, in a ratio of 10 to 1, by changing at the same degree the value of prices, wages and, of any other financial operation. since then, most of citizens have not been adopted yet with this change and are used to communicate with the outdated term “ old lek ”, driving to confusion in both the communication of prices of goods and services and the accurate reading of economic and financial indicators. even before the launching of this awareness campaign - postponed due to the difficulties caused by the restrictions imposed to tackle the covid - 19 pandemic situation – the bank of albania has been attentive in encompassing this message in its educational publications and programmes, such are : global money week, or the campaign on the issue in circulation of the new banknotes. recently, we have conducted the measurement on the use of terminology “ new lek ” – “ old lek ” on a national level, through the inclusion of dedicated questions in the survey on measuring financial literacy of the

research in these and other innovative areas, like green finance, will develop further and become traditional topics in central banks ’ research agenda. for this reason, i challenge our researchers to consider these trends in their future research agenda. continuous enhancement of research topics and methodologies is a must for a central bank. in this respect, i would like to thank ambassador maitre, the swiss government, the state secretariat for economic affairs ( seco ) and its bilateral assistance and capacity building for central banks ( bcc ) program for supporting research activity at the bank of albania. this 1 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches cooperation has been a significant instrument for improving our research work and exposing it to academic and international research community. our cooperation will continue in the future to improve research methodologies and products. we are currently working with seco toward the optimization and institutionalization of research agenda and research implementation in central banks. these important issues will be discussed in a jointly - organized workshop with all bcc partners on capacity building for central banks, in tirana in spring 2020. dear ladies and gentlemen, our see research workshop has become a cherished tradition for bank of albania and central banks of the see region. it is a great pleasure, and we are very happy to see that the workshop continues to generate interest beyond the see region and central banking community. the list of participants has expanded to include speakers from academic institutions in the eu, the us and south - eastern asia, as well as from international financial institutions. your participation is contributing to broadening and enriching our network and we hope that discussions will help our researchers to improve their work and strengthen their research recommendations. these days, your participation in the workshop takes another and even more significant meaning in the wake of the tragic consequences caused by the strong earthquake. it helps to show that, despite many losses, we are resilient and will continue to work to overcome the emotional and economic hardships of this tragic event, shed the desperation, fear and despair, and return to normal activity. i wish the workshop a great success, and all guests and participants a pleasant stay in tirana! 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches