think that dealing with the cesee region alone would provide topics for at least a dozen further conferences. definitely, we would not run out of interesting cesee - related topics, especially as the countries in this region are so different and there are so many aspects to look at : different stages in the catching - up process, different stages of eu integration, different stages of monetary deepening, etc. at the same time, however, this country - by - country approach contains a certain risk : the risk of overlooking fundamental economic developments that take place elsewhere and might affect the cesee region as a whole. developments in russia, and even more so in china, seem to fall into this category. given their huge size and market potential alone, it is quite obvious that economic developments in these two countries would have an impact on the cesee region. in turn, the cesee region as a whole – and the euro area as well – may well have an impact on russia and china, too. so to be able to see – and understand – european integration in a wider context of global economic developments, expanding the focus of the ceei 2011 to include two major emerging economies was not only an obvious, but also a highly necessary step. bis central bankers ’ speeches during the next two days, we will investigate the economic impact of china and russia as emerging global economic players on the catching - up process in cesee. in doing so, we will try to answer questions such as : does competition from the two large and growing emerging market economies constitute a drawback for cesee? or do opportunities prevail? let me briefly address these questions by first comparing some key indicators for the three economic areas in question and then looking more closely at the economic impact of china and russia on cesee. although we all have an idea about the actual size of these areas, let us look at the figures. chart 1 : country size and population in 2010 source : oenb calculations based on imf data. on this chart, we can see at first glance that the cesee - 10 – that is the group of cesee eu member states – are very small in terms of population and landmass compared to china and russia. china stands out with its large population ( almost 20 % of world population ) – which means, of course, that the country ’ s workforce is enormous. chart 2 : gdp per capita in 2010 source : oenb calculations based on imf data. note : figures in purchasing

the european council is expected to make a decision on december 17. ladies and gentlemen, let me perhaps shortly illustrate why the oenb has such a pronounced interest in the countries of central and eastern europe, and more and more in the region of south east europe. with the enlargement, austria moved closer to the geographic centre of the european union. eu integration comes along with economic integration. economic and financial relations between austria and the central and eastern european countries have substantially deepened since the end of the cold war. central and eastern european countries have developed into one of the prime destinations of austria ’ s foreign direct investments. austria is the main foreign investor in slovenia and the third largest in the czech republic and in slovakia. austrian companies situated in the eu ’ s new central european member states employ more than 220, 000 persons. at the same time, austrian companies are doing more and more business in south eastern europe. austrian banks, in particular, play a major role in the banking sector in this part of europe. in albania, the austrian share of total banking assets reaches an impressive 51 % ; in bosnia and herzegovina almost 50 % ; in croatia the share amounts to around 40 %. due to strong involvement of austrian commercial banks in south eastern europe and its impact on the financial stability of the austrian banking sector, it is essential for the oesterreichische nationalbank to monitor and analyze this region more closely. at the same time, we aim at providing a better understanding of this region, which for some people, even for some experts from central and eastern europe, is still “ terra incognita ”. so far, not much research has been devoted to this region. however, south eastern europe promises not only to be the major focus of european integration dynamics in the coming years but it is already among the fastest growing regions on the continent. we very much hope that the programme we have put together for our conference on european economic integration will offer new insights into, and a better understanding of this region whose political and economic perspectives are most heterogeneous. this morning will start with a presentation by the president of the european central bank, jean - claude trichet. we are looking forward to your profound and inspiring keynote speech, jean - claude, and greatly appreciate your participation in our conference. after that, our idea for the first session was to give an overview of both the political and the economic situation in south eastern europe. with the introductory statement of erhard busek we can expect