10  It is interesting, however, that even nonmembers such as Sweden and the United Kingdom have seen their bond yields converge to the German benchmark since about 1997 or 1998. BIS Review 13/2004  5  U.S. Treasury issues, there remains the fundamental difference that euro-zone debt is the debt of twelve sovereign entities, rather than one as in the United States.
In a conference of economists, it is appropriate to go by the principle of comparative advantage, and accordingly I decided to focus my comments on the core of my current professional as well as official preoccupation and talk on the monetary policy. In its conduct of monetary policy, the central bank responds to the evolving economic activity within an articulated monetary policy framework.