this program is highly important for the central bank of bosnia and herzegovina, because it will provide the assessment of situation in seven areas and compare them with the standards of european system of central banks. in the same time, the program is important for bosnia and herzegovina as a whole, because by its implementation we mark the strengthening of economic and financial cooperation between the european union and bosnia and herzegovina. all citizens of bosnia and herzegovina have a wish to join the european union. on this road it is necessary that each institution should make a lot of efforts in order to reach the european standards. my pleasure is even larger, because the central bank of bosnia and herzegovina is among the first going in that direction. i sincerely hope that this is only a first step in cooperation of the central bank of bosnia and herzegovina and the european central bank. to everybody with whom we will cooperate in the realization of this program during the following six months, i wish a pleasant stay in sarajevo, thank you.

by the end of the year, we will also set up the platform for inter - bank market for gyro money and cash, which will have a positive effect on daily liquidity of commercial banks and reduce the costs and increase the safety of cash transport in bosnia and herzegovina. bosnia and herzegovina is preparing for issuing bonds to regulate the internal debt issue, primarily the issue of old foreign exchange savings. those would be the first bonds to be issued by the state and the cbbh will participate in the process as a fiscal agent – it will carry out the settlement of securities to be issued by the state. today, we will sign the agreement on direct payment operations with serbia and montenegro, which will influence the reduction of commercial banking payment operations costs in this region. in the previous period, the cooperation with the institutions of bosnia and herzegovina, primarily with the presidency, the parliament and the council of ministers, was at extraordinary level. the independence of the central bank of bosnia and herzegovina, institutional, financial, personnel, was respected by all, which helped a lot to this monetary institution to achieve such significant results. the cooperation of the cbbh with international financial institutions, especially with the imf, the world bank, the bis, the ebrd, was at a high level. the usaid was involved in the most significant projects of our institution, by helping, both in material and personnel respect, their successful completion, which we sincerely thank them for. the eurosystem has just finished the central bank of bosnia and herzegovina needs assessment programme. the purpose of this project is the assessment of the situation in seven areas of operations the central bank, with the comparison with the standards of the european system of central banks. the programme applies to the functions of the central bank related to the coordination of activities of the agencies in charge of licensing and supervision, economic analysis and research, financial stability, internal audit, monetary policy within the currency board arrangement, payment systems and statistics. in the report prepared by the eurosystem experts, it is stated that « the cbbh is one of the most stable state institutions and has high reputation as a professional, independent and technically efficient organization which has achieved, in the previous 10 years, a significant progress in developing functions assigned to it. » it is our objective to join the european system of central banks, when b & h is ready to join the european union, and – later on – to introduce the euro as our own currency in accordance with eu treaty requirements. i