*  *  *  Governor Iskrov, Ladies and gentlemen, It is a great pleasure for me to be here in Sofia today at the Bulgarian National Bank for the opening of the Euro Exhibition, which is dedicated to Europe’s single currency, the euro.
It is remarkable that in a few months we will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of the introduction of euro banknotes and coins. They came into circulation on 1 January 2002 and replaced the legacy currencies of twelve EU Member States in what was one of the most ambitious logistical exercises ever undertaken in Europe.