in the capital market, enabling the creation of reference prices over time, to which private sector entities can benchmark their fund raising activities. governments have for the most part, remained the most active issuers in the history of the global sukuk market with sovereign issuances accounting for more than 80 percent of the global sukuk issuances. this recent few years has also seen a number of jurisdictions in developed economies strengthening their legal, regulatory and governance framework to facilitate such sukuk issuances. going forward, the financing requirements for economic development are envisaged to be massive, particularly for emerging and developing economies in the asian and middle eastern regions that are seeking huge amounts of capital to fund new infrastructure and to support economic development. given the sheer size of these projects, equity and government budgets cannot be the only source of financing for this next phase of economic growth and industrialisation in our regions. the sukuk market has become a potentially important new source of funding for such long term projects. in the recent decade, a total of us $ 95 billion of infrastructure sukuk has been issued by more than 10 different countries. in asia, it is estimated that a funding of us $ 8. 3 trillion is required until 2020 for infrastructure projects, while the funding requirements in the middle east are estimated to be us $ 2 trillion over the same period. developing economies in africa have also already begun its entry into bis central bankers ’ speeches the sukuk market for such infrastructure financing with some having put in place the legal groundwork for such sukuk issuances. however, low sovereign ratings have limited the ability of certain high - growth developing countries to source such funding, despite being rich in natural resources. countries that are rich in natural resources may however, pledge these resources for such issuance. funding may thus be secured arising from the securitisation of such assets. given the recourse to the asset by investors, it provides the incentive for disciplined and appropriate governance of the management of the project. additionally, multilateral development banks may also facilitate this process by providing credit guarantees to these countries to reduce the financing cost and improve the quality of the sukuk issuances. on this front, multilateral development banks such as the islamic development bank ( idb ) group and the asian development bank ( adb ) commenced initiatives to support member countries to leverage on islamic finance for sourcing of funds, through the provision of advisory services, capacity development and technical

initial cash changeover in 2002 and their value has almost tripled since the end of the changeover period. with this success story in mind, we are confidently looking forward to the anniversaries to come, which will be marked by the full consolidation of the euro and its further adoption by new member states. 2. the euro exhibition today we inaugurate the euro exhibition here in rome. the exhibition was previously on display to the public in bratislava to mark the cash changeover in slovakia. it was also shown in barcelona until last week. other locations on its journey throughout europe will follow. the primary objective of the euro exhibition is to give the public at large the opportunity to gain a thorough overview of the euro banknotes and coins and to raise its awareness of their security features. it features, inter alia, modules on the history of money, the design elements of euro banknotes and coins and the functioning of banknote security features. it also includes a range of interactive elements to raise the visitors ’ attention via touch screen applications such as games, films or security feature showcases displaying counterfeit banknotes. you are cordially invited to make use of all the elements which will contribute to make your visit a learning, interesting and amusing experience at the same time. you will certainly notice that the euro exhibition features a common design : the “ ages and styles of europe ”. as you know, there are windows and doorways depicted on the front of each euro banknote and bridges on the back. these architectural elements symbolise communication and connection between the people of europe and between europe and the rest of the world. furthermore, bridges are regarded as a means to connect the past with the future, symbolising thus the way to a common european future. a children ’ s corner has been established to meet children ’ s special expectations. it refers to our children ’ s booklet, specially drafted for primary students. to ensure that the children understand and enjoy the story in their mother tongue, the italian translation of the story was tested by the students of the italian section of the european school in frankfurt, germany. it is a pleasure for us to present this booklet to you today. the booklet tells an exciting short story, set against the realistic background of a counterfeit case and explains, in an appropriate way for children, how to verify the authenticity of a euro banknote. as an additional educational benefit, its multilingual format can arouse the children ’ s interest in other languages. the