mugur isrescu : 50th anniversary of romania's entry to the circuit of international financial institutions speech by mr mugur isrescu, governor of the national bank of romania, on the occasion of 50 years since romania joined the international monetary fund and the world bank, bucharest, 31 january 2023. * * * distinguished audience, in december 1972, romania joined the international bank for reconstruction and development ( world bank ) and the international monetary fund ( imf ). at that time, romania was the first – and remained until 1989 - the only country from the treaty of warsaw and comecon ( council for mutual economic assistance ) that had entered the circuit of international financial institutions. to mark this anniversary, the national bank of romania has launched into circulation, for numismatic purposes, a silver coin. the obverse of the coin depicts the old palace of the national bank of romania, the inscription " romania " in a circular arc, the coat of arms of romania, the face value " 10 lei " and the year of issue " 2022 ". the reverse of the silver coin has the logos of the international monetary fund and the world bank and the inscriptions in romanian " romania's accession to the international monetary fund and the world bank " and " 50 years ". that moment in 1972 became part of a number of further positive decisions that put romania in the global economic family : joining the general agreement on tariffs and trade ( gatt ) in 1971 ; acquiring preferential trading status with the european common market in 1973 ; being granted the most - favored - nation status by the united states congress in 1975 ; obtaining facilitated access to credits from the export - import bank and the commodity credit corporation ( ccc ). over the same period of time, mixed capital companies were established in romania as well as abroad, including, within the banking sector : banque franco - roumaine, anglo - romanian bank, banca italoromena, frankfurt bukarest bank ag, misr romanian bank. the brand of the american bank - manufacturers hanover trust - was visible in university square, right in the heart of bucharest, and in premium data technology romcontroldata was operating in the country. unfortunately, during the 1980s the authorities in bucharest weakened the relationship between romania and the west, including those with the bretton woods institutions, almost close to severing all ties. after the fall of the communist regime, the normalization of the relationship led to a new beginning. as

mugur isarescu : christine lagarde ’ s visit to romania opening speech by mr mugur isarescu, governor of the national bank of romania, on the occasion of the imf managing director christine lagarde ’ s visit to romania, bucharest, 16 july 2013. * * * madame christine lagarde, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, today i have the pleasure to welcome again here, at the national bank of romania madame christine lagarde, managing director of the international monetary fund. it ’ s good to mention from the beginning that she is the first woman to ever lead the imf. timothy geithner, the u. s. treasury secretary at the time, said upon her appointment, on july 5th, 2011 : “ lagarde ’ s exceptional talent and broad experience will provide invaluable leadership for this institution at a critical time for the global economy. ” allow me to briefly introduce madame lagarde to you. she was born in paris. her father was an english professor. she spent her childhood in le havre and after graduating high school she went on a scholarship to maryland, usa, attending holton arms school in bethesda. madame lagarde got her law degree at university paris x ( dix ), and holds a master ’ s degree from the political science institute in aix - en - provence. already a member of the paris bar association, christine lagarde joined the international law firm of baker & mckenzie, becoming its chairman of the global executive committee in 1999. subsequently, she acted as chairman of the global strategic committee in 2004. christine lagarde joined the french government in june 2005 as minister for foreign trade. in june 2007 she became minister of economy and finance, being the first woman to hold the position of finance minister of a g - 7 country. from july to december 2008, she also chaired the ecofin council. in 2009, financial times ranked her as the best minister of finance in the eurozone, considering both her excellent work within the french government and her involvement in the management of the financial crisis. madame lagarde acted with diplomacy as chairman of the g - 20 when france took over its presidency for the year 2011. all these achievements in her current position led forbes magazine this year to rank her among the most powerful and influential women in the world. besides her contribution to official matters, madame lagarde has broader interests and is involved in various fields of expertise as well as global