A proverb says: “No matter how long the journey is, one has to take the first step to start off.” This philosophy was made concrete through this twinning project, which along with the assistance in the afore-mentioned areas, was also the first step on the path of our institution to EU standards, as one of the priorities of the Stabilization and Association Agreement. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the Banca d’Italia and the Banque de France for the outstanding cooperation we have had during the project implementation. I commend the efforts of both honoured institutions and hope that the successful implementation of this project will provide us with an example to involve more in such initiatives in the future. Also, I want to extend my thanks to the Delegation of the European Union for its ongoing assistance and prudence throughout the project performance. I am deeply confident that these are only the first steps towards a close cooperation. I would like to conclude by bringing to your attention a statement of Mr. Shimon Peres, who, listening to his advisor, Agassi, who was speaking about developing alternative oil sources in the absence of oil, interrupted him by saying: Nice speech, but what are we going to do? In light of this, we should think about what to do in the future. I think that the political coverage of this approximation process is important, with which I mean Brussels’ probable acceptance of Albania’s application for membership in September.
Ardian Fullani: Strengthening the capacities of the Bank of Albania Speech by Mr Ardian Fullani, Governor of the Bank of Albania, at the Closing Ceremony of the IPA-funded Twinning Project on strengthening the capacities of the Bank of Albania, Tirana, 16 July 2012. *  *  *  Dear guests, Central banks, since their inception, have been vested with a “veil of mystery”. This relates to their exclusive right to issue money, set a loan interest rate and control liquidity in the market. Precisely, this important role of central banks and the recent global developments put these institutions on the spotlight. Responding to these developments, central banks worldwide, in perfect coordination with one another and in addition to traditional instruments, took extraordinary measures that had never been employed before. Through those measures, they intended to provide sufficient liquidity in the market, with a final goal, which has remained unchanged since ancient times, to restore public confidence in financial institutions. The Emperor Tiberius, dating to A.D. 33, had to inject one million gold pieces of public money into the financial system to keep it from collapsing. Today, cooperation and coordination among central banks have become an integral part of institutional management. Technological developments and the globalisation process have aroused the need for coordination among decision-making institutions all over the world.