zdenek tuma : the role of the ebrd in the transition process towards fully fledged market economies statement by mr zdenek tuma, governor of the czech national bank and ebrd alternate governor, at the 15th annual meeting of the ebrd board of governors, london, 22 may 2006. * * * mr chairman, mr president, governors, ladies and gentlemen, it is an honour to address the annual meeting of the board of governors in london and i wish to express my appreciation also to the government of united kingdom and to the city of london for their hospitality. we are today participating in the fifteenth annual meeting of the board of governors and we can look back on these years with considerable satisfaction regarding the role of the ebrd in the transition process towards fully fledged market economies. many countries - including my country, the czech republic – have witnessed significant and considerable political and economic transformation. i am glad to say that the european bank is one of those successful institutions that have significantly contributed to this process. the board of governors has today approved the bank's strategy for the period 2006 – 2010 – the capital resources review 3. the new strategy reflects the successful transition achieved in the “ advanced countries ” and the bank's activities are being focussed towards the south - eastern and eastern countries of its operations. we support this move. in central europe the bank focuses on just a few sectors today. this is in line with ebrd strategy of graduation and the graduation of eu 8 countries from ebrd operations can be envisaged. the czech government has already given approval that discussions with the bank's management on the graduation of the czech republic from ebrd operations can begin. we believe that october 2007 - which would be the date of the regular consideration of ebrd strategy for the czech republic could be considered an appropriate for this debate. this time - frame should be sufficient for the bank, the czech authorities and investors to make the necessary arrangements. we understand that the bank's management will make their decisions regarding the supervision of its portfolio in the czech republic, including decisions concerning the future of the bank ‘ s representative office in prague. the mandate of the ebrd in the czech republic is thus approaching its conclusion, and i would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to the bank for its support during the ups - and - downs of the transition process in my country. our sincere thanks go to the management and all those numerous members of staff who

barry whiteside : fiji ’ s chinese renminbi trading platform address by mr barry whiteside, governor of the reserve bank of fiji, at the launch of anz fiji ’ s chinese renminbi trading platform, suva, 25 february 2013. * * * salutation h. e. huang yong ( ambassador of the peoples republic of china ) mr vishnu mohan ( anz bank, chief executive officer pacific & fiji ) mr li - gang liu ( anz chief economist, greater china ) distinguished guests management and staff of anz bank ladies and gentlemen good evening and a belated gong xi fai chai ( happy chinese new year ). introductory remarks let me first thank mr mohan for the kind invitation to officiate at this launch of your renminbi ( rmb ) trading platform. this is another milestone event for fiji and indeed for the pacific, as anz will be the first commercial bank in our region to offer rmb transfers. i am told that following the fiji rollout a similar process will be facilitated for anz papua new guinea, vanuatu and the solomon islands. we have been closely following the developments on the rmb internationalisation and it has now come to our shores. we also have a special interest in the rmb as china is now our fifth largest trading partner, having recently dislodged japan from that position. deregulation of the financial system and new products i can recall the reserve bank initially embarking on a path towards deregulating the financial system in the early 1980s to encourage innovation and make the market more efficient. as such, we always welcomed the introduction of new financial products and services into the market as well as new players, provided they met our requirements. the rapid global technological advancements over the last decade continue and we do not intend to be left too far behind. today ’ s event and launch is one more example of one of our long time financial players maintaining its pace of innovation. more and more services and products are now being made available to make banking efficient and more accessible to the public. in fiji we have seen the introduction of atms, eftpos, phone banking, internet banking, sms banking, fijiclear or real time settlements and foreign exchange hedging to name just a few services. some innovations are more visible than others. we of course take all these in our stride and often wonder how we ever managed without them. the horror is that we are getting close to the day when we will