the first of which is aimed at mediterranean and latin american countries, to be held in the spring of 2019. allow me to take this opportunity to invite you to join this exchange of experiences in one of the aspects that is increasingly relevant to our institutions. the theme of this conference, economic policies, trade integration and sustainable job creation, is particularly timely at this current juncture of the world economy. the world remains in an expansionary phase although there are some signs pointing to a gradual change in the global economic landscape. some of the risks that had been the focus of our attention are beginning to materialise. in particular, we are witnessing a re - emergence of protectionist measures with pernicious effects on international trade. beyond the impact that this can have on growth in the short term, its potential impact on the diffusion of technological advances and on improving the welfare of individuals is more worrisome. in 3 / 4 order to preserve the benefits derived from globalisation and technological innovation, it is now more important than ever to work towards a fairer and stronger global trade system. to this end, it is necessary to work on the reform of the rules governing international trade to ensure that all countries compete on a level playing field. but also, and not least, domestic policy - makers have a responsibility to design the right policies for stimulating innovation and job creation, and creating opportunities for all. i am sure that the participants in the different sessions scheduled today will elaborate more on the best economic policies to ensure that globalisation and technological innovation will continue contributing to economic growth and prosperity in an increasing number of countries. ladies and gentlemen, i leave the floor now to the president of the executive committee of the european institute of the mediterranean, mr. senen florensa, thanking him for the cooperation in the organisation of this event and, of course, thanking you all for your presence here today. 4 / 4

by addressing two aspects that are required for innovative financial services to come to fruition : 1. the underlying market infrastructure for financial services ; and 2. the founding legal frameworks necessary for developments to flourish in the payment landscape. my speech will focus on instant payments and payment initiation services. developing the eurosystem ’ s market infrastructure a sound and efficient market infrastructure is essential for the creation of an integrated financial market in europe. the eurosystem is continuously exploring ways to develop our market 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches infrastructure so that it meets the needs and requirements of the market. in autumn 2016 we announced the launch of an investigation into the future development of our market infrastructure. the projects that are relevant in this context are : 1. the target instant payment settlement ( tips ) service ; and 2. the consolidation of target2 and target2 - securities ( t2s ). now, half a year later, i can say that good progress has been made. tips and the consolidation of target2 and t2s are closely linked. under the assumption that the projects will get the go - ahead in the weeks ahead, target2, t2s and tips will have a modular structure with a number of common elements and centralised liquidity management. the centralised liquidity management function will bundle all the necessary features to allow participants to manage their liquidity across all eurosystem services. the account structure envisaged will allow participants to use the available payment capacity whenever one of the connected services is open for business, without the need for harmonising the operating times of the different services. a market consultation on the user requirements for these services was launched in early may and we hope for wide market participation. a market consultation on tips held earlier this year showed that there is significant interest in the topic of instant payments in general, and in particular the service that tips can potentially offer. overall, feedback on the proposed tips service was very positive. one point on which we have provided further clarification concerns the broader framework of how tips fits into the future european market infrastructure landscape, in particular as regards interaction with automated clearing houses ( achs ). the tips initiative is the eurosystem ’ s response to the increased “ speed ” which we are all experiencing in our daily lives. europeans have a growing urge to make payments instantly, just like they access music, news and traffic updates instantly. the tips initiative aims to create the infrastructure needed for the settlement of instant payments across europe. it