we need to undertake coordinated structural reforms at regional level? are we encountering a weakening in coordinating the policies, information sharing, the establishment of institutions, the current legal infrastructure, or lobbing in european structures? how much possible is the synchronisation of the efforts for more effective and efficient convergence and the integration process? which are the main economic and political fields where we may find larger space for the achievement of common regional polices? how has the last global financial and economical crisis impacted the albanian economy, the regional economy and more priority the convergence process? can we afford it? all these are very important issues on which i think we should stop and study in deep. they are subject of research work, whose findings shall light the orientation of economic and structural reforms. given that, the bank of albania has joint the forces with the university of oxford to carry out a scientific research dedicated to the finding of the answers for the above questions and other similar. answers to these fundamental issues benefit not only albania and its regional partners, but also the eu and its political and economical structures. i am confident that the european commission may exploit the outcomes of these scientific researches to build up new anchors, as economic and political incentives in order to increase the efficiency of all regional sources. these studies shall help us to better see that : what and how should be done to return eu, its pre - adhering economic programs and fiscal economic programs into stronger external anchors for the national and regional policies. however, it is important to realise that international restrictions can not support the long - term sustainable prosperity in absence of internal anchors. obligations that may be imposed from brussels or from other international organisations are indispensable as long the internal anchors are fragile. therefore, it is necessary the society itself and international institutions support the establishment and strengthening of internal anchors. which would be an efficient internal anchor? i think that the best internal anchor is a technician who thinks independently, proud of what he does, conscious for the results and the consequences of the proper actions. in other words, this implies the establishment of professional capacities as one of the cornerstones of long - term successful polices. the scientific education and research in this direction have an important and inalienable role. all the issues mentioned so far, as : the new strategic model of economic growth ; the effective, efficient and consistent monetary policies with the economic growth ; the necessity for coordinated structural reforms in the region ; the challenges to european integration ; the common political economy of the region

ardian fullani : economic and political challenges of regional cooperation speech by mr ardian fullani, governor of the bank of albania, at the round table entitled “ the economic and political challenges of regional cooperation ”, tirana, 8 september 2010. * * * honourable guests, dear participants, i feel honoured to open today this roundtable. before anything else i want to welcome our colleagues from oxford university, who have undertaken an important mission for albania and the region : contributing to the growth of research capacity, of sapience, and to building of a sustained long - term response to the growth challenges we come through on our common ways, similar but unique, towards the european union. it is a great pleasure for me and for the bank of albania to have the opportunity to begin a series of studies about the domestic and regional economic policy, which will assist the scientific debate about the economic growth model, also backed by a regional point of view at social, economic and political level. you may ask yourself, why bank of albania is so much interested in the economic growth and the economic policies overall, as the main target of the central bank is the stability of prices. in the following minutes i shall try to deal with some of the main points of the bank of albania ’ s agenda in recent years. in this respect, the efficiency of monetary policy, the importance of internal and external economic anchors, the building up of research capacities for the purpose of implementing our policies, as well as public communication and education. the right addressing of these issues is indispensable for the monetary policy and its crucial role for the economic prosperity. the successful central banks, whose main target is inflation, are increasingly giving more importance to the economic activity, also to the other indicators of real economy. this trend is not only based on the fact that inflation is directly impacted by the fluctuation of economic activity and unemployment in the short - run, but also on the theory of monetary economics, accordingly the central bank should pay attention to the potential economic growth over the long run as well. in addition, the argument about economic growth is the key target of the economic policies. therefore, the decisions of the central bank in the filed of monetary policy, of supervision and of the financial stability, should interact and be harmonised with this central target, thus guaranteeing the macroeconomic and financial stability of the country. the central bank, in this respect, tries that its policies, neither increase the short - term volatility of the