from the japanese etchings. everyone knows that art in france has been strongly influenced by japanese culture. as regards gastronomy, there are now a large number of japanese restaurants in paris. french cuisine has drawn on japanese cuisine, and vice - versa. rather than simply perpetuate their traditions, japanese and french chefs seek to extend the realm of nouvelle cuisine. japan and france have established a particularly constructive relation in many economic spheres. the two topics of today ’ s conference are the banque de france and the bank of japan : construction and co - operation and the french and japanese economies in a globalised world. as an introduction, i will make a few comments on the co - operation between the two central banks in the context of economic globalisation. france has played a very important role from the start of the meiji era in japan in the mid 19th century, when the country became a player on the global economic scene. thanks to france ’ s financial and technological assistance, a major shipyard and port infrastructures were set up in the town of yokosuka. this is one of the initiatives that marked the start of japan ’ s co - operation with third countries in the process of industrial modernisation in japan. france also played a role at the time of the creation of the bank of japan. mr leon say, minister of finance at the time, advised mr masayoshi matsukata, an influential member of the japanese government who was studying central banking in europe, to refer to the newlyestablished national bank of belgium. his contribution was highly significant. later, when the bank of japan was drawing up its statutes, the japanese government drew on the statutes of the national bank of belgium and the regulations of the banque de france. economies have become increasingly globalised over the past century and a half. recently, the pace of globalisation has even accelerated. borders are melting away and are no longer an obstacle to economic activity. franco - japanese relations should not be looked at solely from the angle of trade and capital flow statistics. it would be wiser to say that france and japan are two major intertwined economic centres on the global stage. this globalisation process has a significant impact on the primary objective of a central bank ’ s monetary policy, which consists in ensuring price and economic stability. it is now impossible for all central banks to assess the economic situation without taking a look at global economic trends. in addition, the globalisation process in the area of financial transactions is

much faster and deeper than in trade in goods and services. if a shock occurs in one country, it will immediately spill over onto numerous other financial markets. in this context, central bank co - operation is becoming increasingly important. in fact, strong ties have been established at various levels. i myself have continued to participate in the governors ’ meetings of the bank for international settlements, a discussion forum for central banks. it is a pleasure for me to talk to mr noyer and other central bank governors at the meetings, which are not only an opportunity to exchange information on the state of the economy and prices, but also to tackle problems specific to each country and international topics of common interest. i set great value on my colleagues ’ ideas and suggestions and feel solidarity with them because we are bound by our common objective, supporting the global economy. at the same time, central banks seek to emulate each other, i. e. they seek to draw lessons from each other ’ s experience and endeavour to always adopt the best practices. in this process, there is no patent. actually, it is in our interest that all countries conduct an appropriate monetary policy because it is a guarantee of global economic stability. this is why central banks are committed to passing on their own experience. for example, central banks have been striving to make their monetary policy more transparent. since the 1990s, central banks have achieved greater autonomy from the state in a large number of countries and regions, including europe and japan. at the same time, central banks are required to be more transparent and accountable for the conduct of monetary policy. increased transparency is important because it enhances the effectiveness of monetary policy by anchoring the expectations of households, companies and financial market participants. having acknowledged the need for greater transparency, banks have endeavoured to take the most appropriate measures to better explain their monetary policy and better communicate with financial markets, taking into account the economic and social situation of their country. to do so, banks have drawn on each other ’ s experiences. one fundamental issue is how to define price stability, which is the primary objective of monetary policy. this involves striking a balance between the need for clarity and the need for monetary policy flexibility. each country has worked out its own solution to this tricky problem. a number of countries, including the united kingdom, have adopted a policy of inflation targeting, whereby the central bank sets a target inflation rate. in this case, measures are adopted gradually to ensure sufficient flexibility. the european central bank,