##tat and their interviewers, with a view to reaching to a high confidence degree in such key indicators. since the beginning, the bank of albania has been assisted in this significant process by experts of the ifo german institute for economic research, one of the leading economic research institutes in the field of business confidence indices. this assistance was provided by the gtz office in tirana, which has mediated and supported the visit of a number of german experts at the bank of albania, as is the present occasion when we have the pleasure to have among us mr. gernot nerb ( ifo ), one of the top experts of ifo institute, for the calculation of business confidence indices in germany. he will be holding some presentations related to the use of indices calculated through the conducted surveys, which help to analyze the real economic and financial developments. although so far, the results of our surveys were presented indirectly in our periodical analyses and reports, as well as in various bank studies, very soon the bank will publish such results regularly. in this context, an important preliminary step would be the consolidation of applied methodology in the calculation of such indices through a professional expertise, as it is the case of ifo. in a second phase, in close cooperation with the respective chambers of commerce and universities, we are going to organize several meetings with businesses and academics, wherein we could get suggestions on the usefulness of these surveys. along the same line of enhancing the economic information sources, another initiative undertaken by us relates to the involvement of the bank of albania branches in the collection and analysis of economic developments in various albanian regions. so far, there have been conducted several surveys which have provided very interesting results. unlike business confidence index, these surveys aim at getting more complete and continuous timely quantitative information on the situation of labour market, prices performance, production and on the relationship between businesses and banks. such information will be used in the calculation of some important indicators, such as productivity, cost per work unit, etc., which are often extremely essential to the bank of albania work study. currently, these indicators are not provided by actual formal statistics. i wish you a very productive day, thank you.

projects based on needs in the region, grow them to a bankable stage, and match these projects with private investors. 17. these efforts will help make infrastructure financing more accessible to a broader group of investors, and help banks to recycle their capital more quickly to other greenfield projects. transactions can be structured such that institutional investors can, through capital market instruments such as infrastructure projects bonds or securitisation, take over the financing of projects from banks after the construction phase is completed. by facilitating financing to what industry estimates to be usd 300 billion of marginal bankable projects in asia, these integration efforts will enhance long term growth prospects of asian economies. 18. one less - talked about area where market integration holds great promise is in insurance. although natural catastrophes – and damage caused by them – have risen in asia in the last ten years, we remain significantly underinsured against perils like flooding. as disaster risk exposures grow in scale, size and complexity, it would exceed the individual capacity of local insurance markets, and governments, to insure the risks of its populations and communities. ppps between public and private sectors, and across national borders, can be effective in maximising the benefits of insurance. such examples of horizontal integration between markets are key in managing the region ’ s rising exposures to natural catastrophe risks. 19. collation of natural catastrophe risk data and analytics across asean countries is a necessary first step toward more comprehensive catastrophe protection, paving the way for insurance integration in this region. currently, the fragmented market structure in asean constrains data sharing and the capacity of domestic insurers to pool and underwrite risks. in singapore, key partners from academia and industry, alongside the mas, have come together to form a work group to explore the establishment of a natural catastrophe data analytics exchange. this exchange serves as a regional platform to collect data and model bis central bankers ’ speeches less understood regions at risk in asia - pacific, facilitate better pricing of such risks, and eventually pave the way for more comprehensive insurance against these risks. 20. in combination, these comprehensive efforts among jurisdictions and participants are very encouraging. and if they are completed successfully and demonstrate meaningful benefits for the countries involved, they can be replicated very quickly to other interested jurisdictions. singapore is helping to drive many of these market integration initiatives through our participation in asean / asean + 3, apec and g20, but also bilaterally with our economic partners. 21. vertical integration through the value chain can