to conclude remote financial services contracts and to establish business relationships with clients via video identification, this being another field where we were among the pioneers in europe. in addition, we established cooperation with several local it companies to consider the potential for the implementation of blockchain technology. i take great pride in the fact that colleagues from many central banks have shown interest in our solutions, and of course, we are more than happy to exchange experience with them. ladies and gentlemen, ( slide 9 ) like i said at the beginning of my speech, we must cooperate in order to be able to rise to the challenges ahead. cooperation enables us to understand each other and to learn and improve ourselves based on successful real life examples. for only if we are ready to learn from each other, can we continue developing the world ’ s central banking practice. as ivo andric, our nobel prize winner once said, bridges show the place where humankind encountered an obstacle and did not stop before it, but overcame and bridged it the way humankind could, according to understanding, taste, and circumstances. our cooperation therefore reflects a natural human need to connect and provide a joint response to the obstacles we all face. as long as this is the case, i am confident that we will leave a more secure and sustainable world to the generations that follow. thank you! 4 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches

jorgovanka tabakovic : national bank of serbia remains synonym for stability and trust address by dr jorgovanka tabakovic, governor of the national bank of serbia, at the economic and financial dialogue between the eu and the western balkans and turkey, 12 july 2021. * * * good afternoon everyone, at the very start, i wish to greet you on behalf of the national bank of serbia and to thank you for having recognized the scope of our response to the pandemic. in your estimate for serbia you stated that “ the impact of the covid - 19 crisis was mitigated by а strong pre - crisis momentum ”, also on account of “ prudent policies during past years ”. i add to that that in serbia we did not wait for the crisis to recognize the importance of building buffers or to recognize our development chances. we worked strategically to broaden the base of investors and markets, which is also reflected in your assessment that the “ contraction of goods exports in serbia was limited due to their diversification achieved in earlier years ”. this is the right moment to mention president aleksandar vucic. without his strategic decisions, we wouldn ’ t be able to talk today about serbia ’ s strong response to the pandemic or about the fact that our gdp exceeded its pre - crisis level already in the first quarter of this year. you also stated that “ in a timely and forceful response to the pandemic, the national bank of serbia has taken a range of measures to maintain price stability and support the economy “. here i wish to add that the national bank of serbia was often “ the first resort ” of responses, supporting our citizens, businesses and the government to more easily overcome the crisis financially. we also ensured smooth functioning of all financial flows during the pandemic. we lowered the key policy rate, provided dinar and fx liquidity, introduced facilities for the repayment of obligations. we also bought government securities in the secondary market and broadened the collateral for monetary operations. in doing all this, our message was clear – we respond to temporary shocks with temporary measures. what are the effects of the national bank of serbia and the government measures? lending activity has remained a stable source of financing the private sector. its structure in terms of currency, sector and purpose contributes to the even recovery of consumption and investment. the dinarisation of corporate loans is by over 9 percentage points higher compared to the precrisis period.