ardian fullani : the role of banks – bridges to development speech by mr ardian fullani, governor of the bank of albania, at the 7th hellenic – albanian business forum “ the role of banks – bridges to development ”, tirana, 13 november 2013. * * * good morning ladies and gentlemen! for me it ’ s a pleasure to participate in this economic forum that brings together representatives of greek and albanian entrepreneurs, and also of banks operating in our countries. i am particularly pleased to have with us today the governor of the bank of greece, mr. provopoulos, whose participation in this forum shows the attention that him personally, and the bank of greece, is paying to support the business sector in general, and more specifically, the economic relationship between greece and albania. this approach is the right one. the private business sector is the main contributor in the gdp of the respective countries. the business sector is undergoing some severe difficulties in greece currently, related with the need to deleverage and restructure in order to improve productivity and become competitive. these are fierce challenges that are associated with huge economic and social costs. i do believe though that these sacrifices of greek people will pay off in the future, by giving way to a more vibrant and stronger economy, a more competitive business sector. in albania, the business sector faces challenges too. albanian businesses must restructure to become more competitive. it must do so, at a time when albania ’ s economic growth is subdued and the demand is weak. this year we expect gdp growth of around 1. 9 %. the figure could be a little higher next year, but is still more reliant on foreign demand, which, on its own, is quite uncertain. our business sector must find new ways and new markets to sustain its activity and grow. our experience has shown that businesses or industries which had more diversified product markets, which took care of their cost structures and their balance sheets, have fared better through the downturn and have brighter prospects on the expected upturn. it serves to show that, as in other areas of life, a long term approach to business yields better results. financing is important at growth times, but is also needed at difficult economic times to facilitate business restructuring and ensure time consistency of change implementation. both in greece and albania, and indeed in europe, the banking sector is the dominant source of finance. this fact highlights the importance of a sound banking system for our economies and has raised deep concerns in

viewpoints, professionally and personally. we do live in a global society, where financial developments take place at a rapid pace. therefore, central banks should possess strong and reliable mechanisms of coordination and communication, which may prepare our institutions to cope with such situations. a proverb says : “ no matter how long the journey is, one has to take the first step to start off. ” this philosophy was made concrete through this twinning project, which along with the assistance in the afore - mentioned areas, was also the first step on the path of our institution to eu standards, as one of the priorities of the stabilization and association agreement. i would like to extend my sincere thanks to the banca d ’ italia and the banque de france for the outstanding cooperation we have had during the project implementation. i commend the efforts of both honoured institutions and hope that the successful implementation of this project will provide us with an example to involve more in such initiatives in the future. also, i want to extend my thanks to the delegation of the european union for its ongoing assistance and prudence throughout the project performance. i am deeply confident that these are only the first steps towards a close cooperation. i would like to conclude by bringing to your attention a statement of mr. shimon peres, who, listening to his advisor, agassi, who was speaking about developing alternative oil sources in the absence of oil, interrupted him by saying : nice speech, but what are we going to do? in light of this, we should think about what to do in the future. i think that the political coverage of this approximation process is important, with which i mean brussels ’ probable acceptance of albania ’ s application for membership in september. this is an important step that would provide additional room for the country ’ s rapid convergence and for bank of albania ’ s rapid and irreversible development in line with the models of its european counterparties. bis central bankers ’ speeches