radovan jelasic : start of the ecb / escb needs analysis programme in belgrade introductory statement by mr radovan jelasic, governor of the national bank of serbia, at the press conference on the occasion of the signing of the protocol between the european central bank, the national bank of serbia, the european agency for reconstruction and the delegation of the european commission to the republic of serbia, belgrade, 1 september 2008. * * * ladies and gentlemen, our honorable guests, i would like to express a special gratitude to ms. gertrude tumpel - gugerell, a member of the executive board of the ecb, mr. josep lloveras, head of delegation of the european commission to the republic of serbia, mr. daniel giuglaris, head of the ear operational centre in serbia, as well as to the representatives of the ecb and 9 national central banks of the european system of central banks ( escb ), out of 17 participating in the project, being present here and taking part in this, for us, a very historical event. signing the protocol today among the parties mentioned above marks a beginning of the realization of the “ needs analysis for the national bank of serbia ” project aimed to identify the gap that the national bank of serbia needs to cover in order to meet the standards of european system of central banks. the subject of analysis will be six work areas in the competence of the national bank of serbia. they will be thoroughly examined by experts from the european central bank and 17 partner central banks involved in the project over the next nine months, by the end of may of 2009. this project will lay down the roadmap for the national bank of serbia to the escb. the road to the eu is not an event but a process that, among all else, requires us to build up strong and efficient institutions and to strengthen administrative and human capacities. the national bank of serbia has so far been positively proactive and i can assure you that we will continue to be the engine of the serbian transition process in the future as well. this is the first project ever between the ecb / ecsb and the nbs and it is a direct proof of the strong determination of our institution to meet the european standards of central banking. actually, as early as during its incorporation in 1884, the national bank of serbia showed strong commitment to the european values, and in that very same year incorporated the best european practices into the first law on the

cictab program on " development of rural financing institutions and cooperatives " bode, bhaktapur i 10 september 2017 address delivered by dr. chiranjibi nepal governor of nepal rastra bank mr. chairman, program delegates, ladies and gentlemen, it gives me immense pleasure to address this august gathering at this opening session of this training program on " development of rural financing institutions and cooperatives " in nepal. at the outset, i would like to thank centre for international cooperation and training in agricultural banking ( cictab ) for again selecting nepal to host this topical program and would give my best wishes to the nepalese organizing member - institutions for success of the program. i would like to extend my warm welcome to all the foreign and national participants at the inauguration of this 5 - day program being held in kathmandu. being one of the founding members of cictab, nepal rastra bank has been actively participating in most of the cictab programs held in nepal as well as other countries. ladies and gentlemen, it has been recognized that among the several mechanisms that could be utilized to accelerate economic development and broad based growth, one critical instrument is the development of rural finance – this will contribute to inclusive growth. while the microfinance revolution has been largely successful in expanding financial services to many poor people, there are instances when the very poor and other especially disadvantaged and marginal groups tend to be excluded. although the number of bfis has been significantly increased in nepal during last three decades, most of them are found centric in urban and accessible areas. some of the survey results show that only 40 percent of nepalese people are in the net of formal financial access. in this context, the role of rural financial institutions and cooperatives in the country like nepal has become more important as the economy itself is rural - based. if we look upon the latest available data, some 34 thousand cooperatives has already been in operation in nepal. of these, half of them are involved in saving and credit activities while others are engaged in different agro - based production activities like agriculture farming, milk production, fruit and vegetable farming, tea and coffee farming, production of herbs, sericulture, horticulture, etc. more than 6 million people are directly involved in these cooperatives as their members and these institutions have employed some 60 thousand people as their regular staffs. their savings have already reached nearly 300 billion rupees while they have disbursed some 290 billion rupees