05.05.2022  Opening remarks 112th Meeting of Central Bank Governors of CEMLA Pablo Hernández de Cos Governor  Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon: It gives me great pleasure to welcome you here today in Seville at the opening of the 112th Meeting of Central Bank Governors of CEMLA. Having been obliged to hold this event virtually in the past two years it is particularly gratifying to be able to meet in person, although we cannot consider the pandemic to be fully over just yet. It is a great honour for the Banco de España to organise this meeting jointly with CEMLA. I should like to take this opportunity to thank Governor Villar, Chair of the Governing Board of CEMLA, and Dr Ramos Francia, Director General of CEMLA, for their invitation to hold this event in Seville. This is the second time, after the 2003 edition, that the meeting will take place here in Seville, which, as the former president of Columbia César Gaviria recalled, Octavio Paz described as the most American of Europe’s cities. At a time when international cooperation is more important than ever, CEMLA stands as a magnificent example of a multilateral institution that fosters such cooperation.
Set up in 1952 under the auspices of the Banco de México and with the support of six other founding central banks (the central banks of Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala and Honduras), CEMLA has for seven decades promoted debate over, and a better understanding of, important monetary and financial matters for the region’s monetary authorities, and helped share best practices in the different areas of central banking among all of its associate members. CEMLA currently has 31 associate members and 20 collaborating members, and has established itself as the foremost institution in Latin American central banking. The Banco de España has worked closely with CEMLA since joining as a collaborating member in 1965. After participating in CEMLA’s governing bodies in an observer capacity for two decades, last year the Banco de España became an associate member, thus reinforcing its commitment to the organisation. Allow me to share with you now, in these opening remarks, a few brief thoughts on the need to reinforce multilateral cooperation in the current geopolitical context to which I have just referred. Russia’s attack on Ukraine is taking an appalling toll in terms of lives, destruction and displaced persons. Of course, it is also having an economic impact, one that is putting our responsiveness to the test. The war broke out at an already delicate juncture for the world economy, with the various regions emerging from the pandemic at different speeds and amid much uncertainty, inflationary tensions and global production chain disruptions.