Skopje, 3 May 1998

Press release of the NBRM

On May 01, 1997, the Governor of the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia, Mr. Ljube Trpeski, stayed in Istambul upon invitation of the Governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, Mr. Gazi Ercel, where together with the governors of central banks of the Balkan countries, countries from the Black Sea region and Central Asia, they signed the Protocol for cooperation among the central banks. Only the Central Bank of Greece did not sign the Protocol, but it left an open possibility to do it in the following months.

The basic target of the Protocol is establishing closer and more intensive cooperation among central banks of the region in the area of monetary economy, finance and banking. In that respect, the banks that signed the Protocol for cooperation shall aim at promotion and exchange of data and information from the monetary, financial and banking domain; improvement of the so far processed data from the area of monetary and balance of payments statistics; undertaking studies and research in the area of finance and monetary economy, necessary for maintaining the economic and financial stability in the region; formation of expert groups aiming at research in certain central-banking aspects; organization of seminars and courses, and providing mutual technical assistance.

During the meeting the role of central banks in the maintenance of the financial stability was emphasized as a necessary precondition for economic growth of the countries. Also, the governors of the central banks that signed the Protocol, expect it to incur more intensive cooperation in the area of supervision of banks and savings houses.

Central banks of countries that signed the Protocol for cooperation founded a Secretariat, which shall rotate each two years together with the function President and Vice President. During the first two years the head office of the Secretariat shall be in Turkey, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Turkey, Mr. Gazi Ercel was appointed President. Vice President shall be the Governor of the Central Bank of Romania, Mr. Mugur Isarersku. Meetings of governors shall be held twice a year, whereas expert groups from the central banks of countries that signed the Protocol shall meet on quarterly basis, and if needed, more frequently.

By signing the Protocol, the governors of the central banks contributed to the promotion of the cooperation among the countries in the region.

Governor's Office