gent sejko : address on remittances of the albania diaspora welcome address by mr gent sejko, governor of the bank of albania, at the high - level meeting on the remittances of the albanian diaspora, tirana, 14 december 2018. * * * your excellency, minister majko, dear guests and colleagues, it is a special pleasure to open today ’ s meeting, which takes place after a year of intensive coordinated effort between our institutions toward the achievement of common objectives in relation to remittances of the diaspora, and other important issues. today, a year after the memorandum of understanding was signed, i have the pleasure of noting that the materialization of these efforts has been reflected in the undertaking of a number of commitments and projects in pursuit of the objectives set out below. the importance of remittances to the albanian economy, to family welfare and to development in general is highlighted in many communications of the bank of albania. in this context, during 2018, the bank of albania engaged its resources in developments aimed at creating the necessary prerequisites for an efficient channelling of such incomes into the albanian economy. international initiatives in the field of remittances underline the importance of reducing the costs and increasing the efficiency of remittance services, thus implying the need to intervene in the retail payment market, in both remittance - sending and remittance - receiving countries. for this reason, the bank of albania, as we have pointed out at the beginning of this cooperation, has engaged in a series of projects aimed at analysing the domestic market with a view to identifying and addressing the needs for intervention. these projects are assisted by the world bank and funded by the seco. i take this opportunity to once again thank these institutions for their contribution and support. moreover, the bank of albania and the national payment systems committee has already adopted and is implementing the national strategy for the retail payments market. this strategy aims to create a contemporary and comprehensive market of retail payments, supported by secure and efficient infrastructures, as well as by a wide range of payment instruments and services that meet the needs of financially capable individuals to make payments across the country. incorporating financial inclusion into the bank of albania ’ s objectives, this strategy has set ambitious quantitative targets aimed at doubling the number of bank account holders ( from 38 % in 2014 to 70 % in 2022 ) and increasing the number of electronic payments per capita ( from 4.

viewpoints, professionally and personally. we do live in a global society, where financial developments take place at a rapid pace. therefore, central banks should possess strong and reliable mechanisms of coordination and communication, which may prepare our institutions to cope with such situations. a proverb says : “ no matter how long the journey is, one has to take the first step to start off. ” this philosophy was made concrete through this twinning project, which along with the assistance in the afore - mentioned areas, was also the first step on the path of our institution to eu standards, as one of the priorities of the stabilization and association agreement. i would like to extend my sincere thanks to the banca d ’ italia and the banque de france for the outstanding cooperation we have had during the project implementation. i commend the efforts of both honoured institutions and hope that the successful implementation of this project will provide us with an example to involve more in such initiatives in the future. also, i want to extend my thanks to the delegation of the european union for its ongoing assistance and prudence throughout the project performance. i am deeply confident that these are only the first steps towards a close cooperation. i would like to conclude by bringing to your attention a statement of mr. shimon peres, who, listening to his advisor, agassi, who was speaking about developing alternative oil sources in the absence of oil, interrupted him by saying : nice speech, but what are we going to do? in light of this, we should think about what to do in the future. i think that the political coverage of this approximation process is important, with which i mean brussels ’ probable acceptance of albania ’ s application for membership in september. this is an important step that would provide additional room for the country ’ s rapid convergence and for bank of albania ’ s rapid and irreversible development in line with the models of its european counterparties. bis central bankers ’ speeches