a higher level of structural convergence than the accession countries at the current stage. it seems unlikely that at the time of accession a sufficient level of structural or real convergence can be guaranteed in order to be able to commit to emu. therefore a higher degree of real convergence with focus on specific structural and administrative convergence issues after accession seems to be crucial. concerning monetary policy, at a very early stage - preferably even before joining the eu - the accession countries must adopt the community ’ s acquis communautaire. from the point of view of the escb this particularly concerns the legal underpinning of the central bank ’ s independence. at the same time, particular attention should be given to the stability of the banking system and the financial markets in the accession countries. even prior to accession, the economic policy of candidate countries must be geared towards stability - oriented monetary and budgetary policies coupled with the necessary structural reforms. on the other hand, no universally valid rules can be laid down for exchange rate policy prior to accession. the timetable from accession to the eu until the introduction of the euro must then be based on the individual progress made by each accession country. at present there is a broad range of exchange rate regimes in cee countries. in our view membership of erm ii is of crucial importance. under the terms of erm ii the accession countries are responsible for ensuring the stability of their currencies vis - a - vis the euro. pegs to currencies other than the euro or a crawling peg are incompatible with participation in erm ii. the goal is the stabilisation of the exchange rate ; in this system, adjustments of the central rate are the exception, not the rule. a more difficult question in this context is how currency board arrangements should be assessed. on the one hand, a successful currency board can indicate that fiscal and wage policy makers are prepared to subject themselves to the constraints of a single monetary policy and that necessary adjustments occur via the real economy. on the other hand, however, experience shows that inflation frequently remains higher in currency board countries than in the country with the anchor currency, thus resulting in a real appreciation of the currency. the task of setting the right exchange rate via a currency board is made harder by the fact that no role is assigned to the market. once such a country joins the monetary union, there is then a danger that its parity does not correspond to the fundamentals and that the country consequently joins emu at the “

the united states, only around 3½ per cent of the population was born in asia and for most european countries the figure is below 2 per cent. see lowe p ( 2014 ), “ investing in a low interest rate world ”, address to the commonwealth bank of australia ’ s 7th annual australasian fixed income conference, sydney, 21 october. bis central bankers ’ speeches graph 1 there are also large numbers of students from asia studying in australia. currently there are around 150, 000 chinese student enrolments at australian educational institutions, more than double the number a decade ago ( graph 2 ). there are also large numbers of students from india, south korea, malaysia, thailand, vietnam and singapore. all up, there are more than a quarter of a million asian students studying here. in time, these students will add to the already vast network of our alumni across the region. graph 2 the strong people - to - people linkages can also be seen in the broader data on international short - term arrivals ( graph 3 ). at the moment, more than 250, 000 citizens from asia are travelling to australia every month, with arrivals from china reaching nearly 80, 000 a month. as is evident from the graph, these figures have grown very strongly over recent years. there has, of course, also been very strong growth in the number of australians travelling to asia for both business and leisure. bis central bankers ’ speeches graph 3 taken together, this deep and growing people - to - people engagement is an increasingly important national asset. it helps us better understand the most dynamic part of the global economy. it promotes goodwill and can help identify cross - border business opportunities. some of the students studying here will hopefully become “ champions ” for our country when they return home. others will remain here and use their knowledge and relationships in their country of birth to build new and stronger business ventures between our countries. the second foundation that i would like to point to is our strong overall population growth. over the past decade, australia has had almost the fastest rate of population growth in the oecd and this is expected to continue for some time to come ( graph 4 ). in a decade ’ s time, our population is forecast to be 17 per cent higher than it is today – that is an extra four million people. graph 4 these people will require somewhere to live, to work and to play. this population growth helps underpin the creation of new opportunities for businesses and for individuals. it means that people