mugur isarescu : overcoming economic problems, the experiences of sweden and turkey – an inspiration for romania? opening speech by mr mugur isarescu, governor of the national bank of romania, at the conference “ overcoming economic problems, the experiences of sweden and turkey – an inspiration for romania? ”, bucharest, 23 september 2013. * * * ladies and gentlemen, your excellences, distinguished guests it is a pleasure for me to welcome you to the national bank of romania. i salute the presence of such a distinguished audience : their excellences, the ambassadors of sweden, turkey, brazil, cyprus, germany, the netherlands, members of the diplomatic corps, economists, bankers, businessmen, journalists. we are honored to host this international conference : “ overcoming economic problems, the experiences of sweden and turkey : are these an inspiration for romania? ” the title is, i believe, self - explanatory. in today ’ s globalized world, learning from other countries ’ experience is of utmost importance. and while it might be true that no one really learns but from his own mistakes, one can hope that some other mistakes may be avoided when learning from other people ’ s experiences. why sweden and turkey? before answering this question i wish to emphasize that the national bank of romania is open and willing to host other conferences with similar topics. and today ’ s conference might be considered the first of a series, involving clusters of countries with relevant interactions. with reference to the question above, i can tell you that there have been several reasons to begin with these three countries, but the main reason for which we compare today the present situation in sweden, turkey and romania is due to the diligent and assiduous activity of the ambassadors of these two countries in bucharest. then, i would like to salute their presence here today : his excellency mr. anders bengtcen, ambassador of the kingdom of sweden, and his excellency mr. omur solendil, ambassador of the republic of turkey and to particularly extend my gratitude to them and to all the persons involved in the materialization of this conference. i also thank mr. klas eklund, senior economist at the swedish bank seb and adjunct professor of economics at the lund university and mr. cagri memisoglu, deputy general manager at garanti bank romania. there are, of course, historical links between the three countries. i do take this opportunity to highlight a few of them.

of the risks that caused so much damage elsewhere in asia. the diversity and depth of australian markets, by ensuring that avenues of financing are always available, also add to the resilience of the economy. i would also give some credit to the financial sector for contributing to the reduction in inflation volatility we have seen over the past 15 years. part of this can be traced to the reduced pass - through to inflation of changes in the exchange rate, which, in turn, has been partly attributable to the increased use of exchange rate hedging by firms. conclusion so let me end by saying that it is clear that the growth of financial markets and the growth of the economy are closely intertwined. financial markets need a strong economy to thrive, and the economy needs strong, vibrant and well - regulated markets if it is to continue to expand. i think that it is fair to conclude that australia to date has been well served by its financial markets, and i would encourage you to continue to work to maintain these high standards.