Skopje, 17 March 2023 (MIA) -  The National Bank will host on March 23-24 in Skopje the annual full forum of the Vienna Initiative, one of the largest events in the region in the area of finance.  

The event is organized for the first time in the Republic of North Macedonia, and for the first time in a country outside the European Union. 

Advisor to the National Bank's Governor Milica Arnaudova told a press briefing on Friday that the forum will bring together over 80 foreign guests, top officials from international financial institutions, central bank governors, as well as representatives from several banks. Participants come from 14 European countries.

This year's forum will focus on a larger number of crucial topics, including key challenges for monetary and fiscal policy in times of inflationary challenges, challenges for the banking sector, green transition, developing finance and new technological solutions, and other current topics.

The Vienna Initiative is an international cooperation framework for maintaining financial stability in the region of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (CESEE). It is a platform which brings together key International Financial Institutions (IFIs), international organisations, public authorities and private banks to coordinate responses to pressing financial sector issues in emerging Europe. It was established through the coordination of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank during the first wave of the Global Financial Crisis in 2009. 

The Initiative provided a forum for decision making and coordination that helped prevent a systemic banking crisis and ensured that credit kept flowing to the real economies in the region. After the end of the global financial crisis, it continues to be a platform where regulators and banks discuss issues such as deleveraging, non-performing loans, bank fragmentation, implementation of the new regulatory standards for banks, and support for the region to adjust to the new growth model.

The Vienna Initiative 2.0 builds on the success of the Vienna Initiative 1.0. The work within the Vienna Initiative 2.0 aims for practical results by monitoring of, and reporting on, the deleveraging process and by setting up temporary structures where private and public sector decision makers meet to exchange experience and discuss appropriate actions.

"From a platform expected to act temporarily, it has grown into a forum where decision-makers from the private and public sectors meet on a regular basis to exchange experience and discuss trends in the financial sector, as well as more general macroeconomic issues," said Arnaudova. 

The focus of this year's forum also includes other current topics, such as green finance and the impact of climate change risks on financial stability, modern trends in finance, digitalization, fintech, etc.