guy quaden : international trade – threats and opportunities in a globalised world introduction by mr guy quaden, governor of the national bank of belgium, at the international conference 2010, brussels, 14 october 2010. * * * ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of governor quaden and also on my behalf, as member of the board of directors in charge of the research department, i am pleased and i indeed feel it an honour to have the opportunity to welcome you to the sixth national bank of belgium conference. as you will have seen in the programme, governor quaden was initially scheduled to open the conference. unfortunately, in view of unforeseen circumstances, he cannot be here with us this morning. he kindly asked me to offer his apologies in that respect. instead, he will address you tomorrow at the closure of conference, drawing the conclusions from the discussions, and will outline his views on a topic he thinks is of the utmost importance. at present, i would like to bid you once more a hearty welcome to our conference. held once every two years since the year 2000, this regular event is one of the initiatives taken by the bank to promote scientific research in fields that lie at the heart of the concerns of all those involved in economic life, and also to expand its own understanding of the functioning of the economy. the theme that has been chosen for this sixth edition, namely international trade and capital flows, is of particular importance for our institution, just as it is for other observers of the belgian economy. indeed, our country owes a good part of its prosperity to its particularly high level of openness to trade. one consequence of being so open to the rest of the world is of course the fact that our economy ’ s growth depends heavily on world demand and on the capacity of our domestic firms to tap new opportunities on foreign markets. the close relationship linking economic growth to firms ’ performance on external markets obviously does not only concern belgium. against a backdrop of the increased globalisation that has rapidly taken hold over the last twenty years, it is a topic followed very closely by economic stakeholders in all the industrialised nations. that can be mainly explained by the rise in power of emerging countries, notably the central and eastern european states, india, brazil and, above all, china. having benefited from both a strong trade liberalisation and large foreign investment inflows, while taking advantage of low production costs and raising their level of technological know - how, these economies now seem like fearsome competitors

guy quaden : financial sector development and the role of central banks in securing financial stability in a globalised economy opening address by mr guy quaden, governor of the national bank of belgium, at the 2007 international arab banking summit, brussels, 28 june 2007. * * * chairmen, ladies and gentlemen, i am very pleased to address the 2007 international arab banking summit. i would like to thank the union of arab banks and the world union of arab bankers for their invitation and congratulate them for their excellent organisation of this important event. as the issue of euro - arab banking dialogue takes centre stage, it is fitting that, after having met in rome in 2006, you have chosen to meet this year in brussels, capital of the kingdom of belgium and also of the european union ( eu ). i welcome you in this city on behalf of the belgian authorities and more in particular of the national bank of belgium, the central bank of our country. you come here at a good moment : incoming data have confirmed that economic activity in the eu and the eurozone has continued to expand at a strong pace and the outlook for the second part of this year and next year remains very encouraging. having regained more dynamism, the eu and the eurozone significantly contribute to the needed rebalancing in world economic growth. the arab region is a key partner for the european countries and both sides attach great importance to building strong, meaningful relationships. as you all know, the eu and its mediterranean partners have in 1995 created the european - mediterranean partnership, also known as the barcelona process, to lay the foundations of a new regional relationship. also, the european commission has entered into co - operation agreements with the countries of the gulf cooperation council, in 1989, and with yemen, in 1997, thus comprising the whole of the arabian peninsula. the eurosystem – namely the european central bank and the national central banks of the thirteen countries which have adopted the euro – has established a working relationship through central bank co - operation, notably with the members of the gulf co - operation council and egypt, as well as through the organisation of an annual seminar with mediterranean central banks at the level of governors. experience during the last few decades has learned that financial sector development is crucial for sustaining economic growth. a modern financial system promotes investment, mobilises savings and allows risks to be diversified, resulting in a more efficient allocation of resources. in this speech, i would like to briefly touch on two related subjects. firstly