the most important investors in the respective banking sectors, contributing to financial development in the region. let me now turn my attention to the use of the euro in the region. use of the euro in south eastern europe south eastern europe is a region where one can see the use of the euro as an international currency in all its dimensions. the oenb has done much work to document this. the ecb also monitors regularly developments in the international role of the euro, including its use south eastern europe. as you all know, the eurosystem takes a neutral position regarding the internationalisation of the euro. in this regard, it is also worth recalling the position adopted, already by the ecofin in november 2000, that countries aiming at eu accession cannot use unilateral euroisation as a way of circumventing the stages foreseen by the treaty establishing the european community for the adoption of the euro. 2 as a financing currency, euro denominated debt is regularly issued by the countries of the region, which also, as i noted above, often make use of the euro as an anchor, reserve and intervention currency for their monetary and exchange rate frameworks. the euro is also being increasingly used as an invoicing currency in the international trade of the countries in the region. in the case of bulgaria, for which a longer span of data is available, we have seen that while 37 % of bulgarian exports were invoiced in euro in 2000, the figure had risen to 61 % in 2003. the increase is particularly notable given the fact that bulgarian exports to the euro area accounted for only 51 % of total bulgarian exports in 2003, compared to 42 % back in 2000. that is, while in 2000 bulgarian exports to the euro area were greater than its exports invoiced in euro, by 2003 the opposite was true. euro cash inherited the role of a store of value that some legacy currencies, principally the d - mark and also the austrian schilling, had played in some countries in the region. but the introduction of the euro also coincided with an interesting development in the region. in a nutshell, the euro cash changeover was accompanied in many south eastern european countries by a strong increase in euro - denominated deposits. in many countries, particularly in the former yugoslav republics, households deposited cash in legacy currencies - previously kept “ under the mattress ” - with banks rather than exchange them directly for new euro banknotes, reflecting increased

the euro is present on all major financial markets around the globe. currency trading in euro has been going on for two and a half years. shares are denominated in euro on most european stock exchanges. the next and final step will be the introduction of euro - denominated banknotes and coins on 1 january 2002. the introduction of the new euro banknotes and coins is the final step which completes the creation of the single currency. with this changeover, the considerable benefits of the single currency will become apparent to european citizens. a natural advantage of the single currency is that it reduces transaction and information costs in the euro area. it enhances the function of money as a medium of exchange by lowering the costs typically associated with market transactions. generally speaking, money is an important component of any market economy. in a complex exchange economy, money is an important means of achieving decentralised co - ordination between the plans and actions of economic agents across time and space. the function of money as a medium of exchange is significantly enhanced by enlarging the area in which a single currency is used as legal tender not least since this eliminates exchange rate uncertainty within the currency area. the introduction of the new euro banknotes and coins in the euro area, which comprises around 300 million citizens, is in many respects a huge challenge. first, the launch of the euro banknotes requires an initial supply of about 14. 25 billion banknotes – representing a value of around €641 billion – to be available by a fixed deadline. second, the banking sector, security carriers, retailers and the cash - operated machine industry are closely involved in the preparations at an early stage, as a smooth cash changeover can only be achieved in a short period of time by systematic and co - ordinated interaction on the part of all the main participants. third, the successful introduction of euro cash is preceded by a goal - oriented information campaign to prepare the general public and professional cash handlers in europe for the new currency. the president of the ecb launched this campaign on 30 august and at the same time presented the details of the new banknotes to the public. this new currency which will be in some 100 days'time in our pockets, is our money, a tangible reality and a symbol of european integration in every sense of the word. the euro banknotes are produced with state - of - the - art security standards and combine many of the highly effective security features already used in the national banknotes of