issues. for example, she has signaled the major risk in not addressing climate change saying with humor : “ our kids will be grilled, fried, toasted and roasted. ” she also militates for encouraging women to seek education and enabling them to be more independent and provide for themselves and for their children. christine lagarde is chevalier de la legion d ’ honneur since july 2000, and commander of the order of merite agricole. she has an honorary doctorate from katholieke universiteit leuven ( belgium ). madame lagarde will address you today on a thought - provoking topic : eastern europe and romania : the path to prosperity. the format will be the following : after her presentation we will allow three questions from the media and three from our guests. madame lagarde, s ’ il vous plait … the floor is yours. bis central bankers ’ speeches

mugur isarescu : the 39th meeting of the central banks governors ’ club of the central asia, black sea region and balkan countries speech by mr mugur isarescu, governor of the national bank of romania, at the conference " the 39th meeting of the central banks governors'club of the central asia, black sea region and balkan countries ", bodrum, turkey, 14 may 2018. * * * dear colleagues, let me start by saying that i am honoured to have been invited to speak here, in beautiful bodrum, at the 39th meeting of the central banks governors ’ club of the central asia, black sea region and balkan countries. our club includes central banks from eu countries, some already in the eurozone, while others belong to countries outside the eu. some of the members in our group come from countries that have enormous economic potential and belong to g20, which has become an essential part of the architecture that has fostered international debate on financial and economic issues after the crisis. this is why our club reflects quite interestingly the constellation of political and economic interests that defines our world. this meeting comes at a time when the international landscape is dominated by an overall positive mood, on the economic front at least, even though, recently, a number of downside risks have become more apparent. in the european union, economic growth reached in 2017 its postcrisis peak, with most member states witnessing higher gdp dynamics. at the same time, unemployment continued on a downward path and economic sentiment improved across the board. some recent signals point to a slowdown, yet they seem to have more to do with temporary influences, growth prospects continuing to look strong. the past year recorded, on average, positive developments in eu candidate and potential candidate countries as well, in spite of gdp dynamics delivering a more mixed picture ( from over 7 percent in turkey to around 2 percent in serbia and even stagnation in the former yugoslav republic of macedonia ). nevertheless, the outlook is positive, with recent forecasts pointing to relatively robust growth in the coming years. however, against this relatively rosy background, i should highlight that our economies, even those that belong to the eurozone, have still much to do in order to become robust and offer good living standards to most of their citizens. some members of this club, romania included, had to go through very painful adjustments during the past decade, as the global crisis found them trapped in a pro - cyclical policy stance and it remains to be