the measures taken and the coordination involved highlight the remarkable unity achieved in response to the crisis. however, as the recovery gathers steam at different speeds, some see kamil and rai ( 2010 ), galindo, izquierdo and rojas - suarez ( 2009 ). dissent has surfaced. although differences in policies are not completely unexpected now that the collapse scenario has been reduced, they do show that the international financial architecture still lacks sufficient leverage to coordinate the interests of the different countries. symptoms of imperfect coordination can be seen across the board today and, unfortunately, the euro area is no exception. as i have mentioned and illustrated above, a lack of coordination leads to national responses which can generate negative externalities. recovering the sense of common purpose shared at the height of the crisis remains of the essence when designing the right policies at the global level. in these circumstances, it would be of paramount importance to reinforce the efforts to keep cooperation and dialogue open, and this seminar is intended to contribute to that goal. the other area where international cooperation is definitely needed is in the construction of global safety nets as a way to reduce global financial risks. a wider use could help mitigate certain policies that may be detrimental to global stability from a collective standpoint, such as excessive reserve accumulation. in that respect, additional work is needed to improve the incentives associated with imf lending facilities for emerging market economies and to address more effectively the traditional problems associated with them ( for instance, the stigma problem ). international fora are well suited for resolving these coordination problems. that brings me to the end of my introduction to the seminar. as you can see in the programme, there will be three sessions which will take up each of the topics i have just addressed. each session has been organised as a panel discussion so as to facilitate the presentation and exchange of different views, with three panellists from both sides of the atlantic. after each panel, we have allotted sufficient time for an open general discussion. finally, at the end of today ’ s proceedings, president trichet will make the closing remarks of the seminar. i hope we will have an intense and very productive day ’ s discussion. without further delay, i give the floor to my friend governor carlos costa, who will chair the first session of the seminar on global rebalancing. thank you

sizable spending cuts and, more importantly, adjustments to long - term expenditures, in particular to the pension system, all of which will have a strong positive impact on the long - term sustainability of public finances. but the success of the adjustment will depend first and foremost on achieving a solid and sustainable growth rate. this goal requires implementing the necessary structural reforms to increase productivity and the efficiency of the economy, and establishing a more balanced and stable pattern of growth. the most important of these reforms have already begun to be introduced, in particular those bearing on the labour market and the financial sector, but continuous progress is needed. the third pillar of the spanish action plan is the restructuring of the financial sector and its adaptation to an economy less dependent on credit and leverage for growth. restructuring turns on two essential aspects : the downsizing of the banking sector as a whole, and maintaining a sufficiently large backstop as to ensure the capital that is required, but using only that necessary so as not to overburden public debt, no matter how small the spanish public debt is. the hard times that characterise a protracted process of economic and financial adjustment are familiar to many latin american countries, which have experienced sovereign and banking crises over the past decades. but they have avoided it this time. indeed, latin america has proved outstandingly resilient at a time of global hardship, as too have many emerging economies – perhaps with the exception of some eastern european countries. before the crisis, most latin american countries had dramatically reduced their vulnerabilities, precisely as a result of the lessons learnt in the previous crisis. accordingly, there were no severe problems of overborrowing or external imbalances of the sort experienced by industrial countries, and the current adjustment, while significant in size, has been swift. recovery in asia and latin america is proving strong and driven increasingly by domestic demand. all in all, improved fundamentals relative to industrial countries have placed emerging market economies in a much better position to resume high levels of growth. going back to a debate that was popular in the first half of 2008, we can say that, after all, emerging countries have been able to “ decouple ” from the dire growth prospects of advanced economies. but it is still uncertain whether solid growth in emerging economies can be sustained over the medium term if external demand from major industrial economies remains subdued for a protracted period. moving one step forward, we can ask to what extent emerging economies can act as an effective engine for growth in