Mugur Isărescu: Establishment of a new 15-county IMF-WB Constituency that already includes Romania Speech by Mr Mugur Isărescu, Governor of the National Bank of Romania, at the establishment of a new IMF-WB Constituency that includes Romania, at the Annual Meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, Tokyo, 12 October 2012. *  *  *  Your Excellences, Ministers, Governors, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am honored to have the opportunity to address you all on this special occasion and to welcome our new partners from Belgium and Luxembourg. This moment, when the establishment of a new, 15-country constituency, is formally announced, has several historical meanings, already presented by Minister de Jager. Let me add something from the experience of my country. Romania joined the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 1972 and has been a member of the Dutch Constituency ever since. It is worth mentioning that this Constituency had only five members in those days: The Netherlands, Israel, Cyprus, Yugoslavia and Romania. After 1990, I saw how, in a few years, the memberships grew to 13 countries. Despite this rapid enlargement with such diverse configuration and the huge transformation happening in all the countries in the last two decades, our Constituency has remained remarkably stable and has operated well. This is why I share the views of Minister de Jager that we have been able to find strength in our diversity.
Thus, the Supervision Department of the National Bank of Romania was set up with technical assistance from the Nederlandsche Bank. Also, forex and market operations developed from the co-operation with our colleagues from the Belgian central bank. Another form of cooperation between the member states of the Constituency was the fact that since 1993, a second constituency meeting at the level of ministers and governors was held annually in one of the member countries, on a rotating basis. The IMF management and senior staff were invited to speak on issues of interest. I have participated to almost all constituency meetings since 1990. I could testify that each of them was interesting and  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  fruitful. As a veteran I cannot help but remember the first meeting after the fall of communism, in September 1990. At that time I met three not only impressive tall men, but also, outstanding personalities: Governor Wim Duisenberg, Minister Wim Kok and Executive Director Goddard Posthumus. I have to say I had the honour to collaborate with all the executive directors of our constituency. Thus, it is a pleasure to remember the extraordinary relationships developed with Onno Wijnholds, Age Bakker, Jeroen Kremers, Governor Nout Wellink and Minister Gerrit Zahn. Dear colleagues and friends, I am proud to say that the constituency meeting held in June this year, in Romania, where both Belgium and Luxembourg representatives were invited, was a step forward towards this formal outcome.