. there can be no effective cooperation, however, without an adequate knowledge of the key features of different components of the financial system, and of their interactions. it is in this spirit that banca d ’ italia has taken the initiative to organize today ’ s seminar, with the aim of better understanding the characteristics of this industry and its implications for the financial system in europe and in italy. for banca d ’ italia, it is an important opportunity to deepen our knowledge of this subject, in view of its relevance for the bank ’ s institutional duties, as a member of the eurosystem and as the authority for banking and financial supervision in italy : we have, therefore, chosen to specifically focus the seminar on issues pertaining to monetary policy and banking supervision. a cursory look at the program should be sufficient to suggest that islamic finance and its interactions with conventional financial practices are a source of numerous intriguing questions. i am therefore confident that the subject will stimulate the interest of participants in today ’ s seminar, and most grateful to the highly qualified representatives from various monetary and banking authorities, international institutions, and academia who have accepted to join the three panels. i mentioned the importance of policy cooperation for the safeguard of a sound global financial system. dr. zeti akhtar aziz, the governor of bank negara malaysia, who has kindly accepted to be the keynote speaker of today ’ s seminar, is an outstanding example of a civil servant who has put international cooperation at the center of her professional activity, throughout her distinguished career : she has, in this respect, chaired the emeap ’ s taskforce on “ regional cooperation among central banks in asia ” and is currently chairperson of the bis asian consultative group. an accomplished economist, she is also one of the leading experts in islamic finance, having played a key role in the establishment of the islamic financial services board, of which she was later council chairperson in 2007. unfortunately, official engagements with the malaysian government, which were set only in the last few days, have prevented dr. zeti akhtar aziz from traveling to europe for this seminar. while she cannot be physically with us today, she has nevertheless made a point of participating in the event, and has sent us a video recording of her address, which we are now going to show. let me therefore leave the “ virtual ” floor to dr. akhtar aziz, looking forward to her address, and to the interesting sessions which will unfold during the day.

the necessary changes. legal convergence the treaty requires each member state to make its national legislation, and especially the provisions concerning its central bank, compatible with the treaty and the statute of the european system of central banks. in particular, the treaty requires each member state to ensure that its central bank is independent from the government and all other political bodies ; the necessary reforms must be enacted before the introduction of the single currency. within the general framework laid down in the treaty, the european monetary institute and the commission have done valuable work in analyzing and interpreting the relevant provisions and providing clear indications of the criteria to be followed in adapting national legislation to community law, not least in view of the need for the latter ’ s uniform application throughout the european union. the key requirements of central bank independence with a view to a country ’ s adoption of the single currency are : the task of pursuing price stability as the primary objective ; complete autonomy in the management of the monetary instruments, interest rates and monetary and credit aggregates, for the purpose of defending the internal and external value of the currency. some of the provisions of the draft legislative decree are aimed at strengthening the bank of italy ’ s independence, the essentials of which are in fact already provided for in italian legislation. at a higher level there is the proposal of the joint parliamentary committee on constitutional reform for the bank of italy to be given constitutional status by affirming the central bank ’ s independence and autonomy in the performance of its monetary and supervisory functions in the constitution. the integration of the national central banks in the european system of central banks is to be achieved by linking the implementation at national level of measures concerning official interest rates, compulsory reserves and open - market operations with the decisions adopted by the european central bank. it is important to stress that, in conformity with the statute of the european system of central banks, the participation of the bank of italy in the system will • not affect the performance of the other tasks that it is assigned under national legislation, especially those related to banking supervision. the draft legislative decree contains the provisions needed to ensure the compatibility of italian legislation with the treaty and the statute of the european system of central banks. in addition to the competent italian parliamentary committees, it has been submitted, as required, to the european monetary institute for its opinion. the provisions guaranteeing the integration of the bank of italy in the escb will mostly come into force at the time the single currency is adopted. the statute of the bank of italy will be modified in