an equity fund either to inject capital into key companies, especially for those operating in european strategic value chains, as identified by the commission in november 2019. beyond that, several economists – including elena carletti, professor of finance at bocconi university – have proposed the promising avenue of a temporary “ european pandemic equity fund, ” iii which could be managed by the eib. this could take the form of hybrid capital instruments, with no voting rights but a significant remuneration of the public investment, and a predetermined termination option for the firm. in addition, the recovery fund could consider a specific tool to buy - back some assets from banks. b / a clarification of fiscal rules. the counterpart of financial solidarity is the responsibility of member states. the current sgp [ stability and growth pact ] page 9 sur 10 rules – are at once too complex and not credible enough. obviously, there is a need to maintain fiscal rules – let me stress it, at the risk of unpopularity – but for them to evolve towards greater clarity and better ownership and compliance by member states. the european fiscal board interestingly proposed relying on a ceiling on the growth rate of primary public expenditure, net of discretionary revenue measures iv. c / making headway with a financing union for investment and innovation. private risk - sharing mechanisms, which are less frequently considered than public ones, are just as important and effective, as we can see in the us where capital markets play a more important role as a buffer between states than fiscal transfers. here, solidarity and responsibility are mutually reinforcing. the euro area has an abundant, and rarely mentioned, resource at its disposal : a savings surplus relative to investment, which amounted to eur 360 billion last year. this resource is currently invested outside the euro area, even though our potential investment needs are substantial. a better allocation of european private savings requires more efficient crossborder financing channels – savings are not always where the investment need arises – and more efficient “ transformation ” : preferred savings instruments are often short - term and safe, while financing needs are often longer - term and riskier. this requires the combination of a more effective banking union and a “ capital markets union ”, to make a genuine “ financing union for investment and innovation ”. european governments all agree in principle ; let us now at last walk our talk, as a significant private booster to our collective exit strategy. d / keeping in place an accommodative monetary

, changes in world - wide trends on secured currency, and the costeffectiveness of production and handling. our banknotes began with paper substrate but since 1991 we have moved on to introducing polymer notes, the second country outside australia to do so. we find polymer banknotes more cost - efficient, more durable and last longer, especially in our humid png climatic conditions. the new five kina polymer banknote to be launched this afternoon is the last denomination to be converted and completes the series of polymer banknotes. advanced security features are incorporated in the latest series of our banknotes as protection against counterfeiting. we have also standardized the main theme running throughout all our banknotes. on the back of our banknotes, we retain our traditional forms of money ( for the 2, 5, 10 and 20 kina ), the grand chief sir michael somare appears on the k50 note depicting our road to nationhood and guardianship of our country. the progress in economic and technological development is reflected on the back of the k100 note. on the front of each of the banknotes, you will note that we now have the image of the national parliament. this family of notes using the “ parliament theme ” shows different aspects of the parliament house together with a smaller image of the national crest. these are symbols of nationhood. papua new guinea is predominantly a cash - based economy and will remain so for some time. the majority of our people will continue to use cash ( coins and banknotes ) as the main form of payment in settling their transactions, in conducting their business activities and meeting social obligations. we at the bank of papua new guinea will therefore ensure that our currency are of an acceptable standard, are durable, and longer lasting, given our tropical humid conditions and the frequent and rough handling of currency by the public. for this reason, the bank has introduced a clean bank note policy to maintain the standards and increase public awareness of the quality of our currency. with these few remarks, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to invite our minister, honourable patrick pruaitch to officially launch the new five and ten kina banknotes.