Before I conclude, on your behalf and mine, I would like to pay a special tribute to the contribution of Dr. Mohammad Firouzdor, Secretary General, to the work of ACU.I have been informed that he proposes to retire from his position next week. As you are aware he has been the guiding spirit behind the ACU Secretariat for the last six years.
5 More to the point, over the past eight years, the shocks that have driven the business cycle in the euro area and US economies have differed in timing and nature, not in magnitude. 6 The shocks that in late 2000 drove the United States into recession hit almost a year before those that produced the slump in the euro area.