Central bank governors meet in Thessalonica

TIRANA, Feb. 11- The central bank governors of southeastern European countries were invited by their Greek colleague, Nicholas C. Garganas, to a common working meeting in Thessalonica last week. This meeting was held as part of the joint memorandum of Collaboration which was signed in Athens last year and which aims to coordinate efforts by the important financial and monetary policy institutions through a regional approach. This is believed to increase the chances for economic stability in the region. This meeting addressed the conclusion of the prior summit of leaders of financial supervision that was held in January. All governors agreed that, so far, the implications of the global financial crisis have been felt only partially and indirectly in their countries. However, they predicted that the slow down of the worldwide economy and trade will affect their countries and stressed development polices. Considering the fast growth of credit in most of the countries, the governors highlighted the importance of good credit and supervision of healthy bank portfolios. Another matter of discussion were trade balances. The governors agreed to speeding up collaboration based on the Memorandum of Agreement through converging policies, especially in the fields of money laundering prevention and financing terrorism. Governors agreed to work closely in order to fulfill the EU requirements and speed up their integration process, both regional and continental.