Villeroy de Galhau, F., Anchors and catalysts: central banks’ dual role in innovation, speech, 27 September 2022 ii Three progress reports are publicly available on the ECB website, the third and latest of which was released on 24 April 2023 iii European central bank, Digital euro – Prototype summary and lessons learned, 26 May 2023 iv The Eurosystem will not know any details of any transaction v The European Commission’s legislative proposal on retail CBDC is expected on 28 June 2023 vi be it for account holding, payments or access to a mobile app vii Villeroy de Galhau, F., Big techs in finance: a bildungsroman that is far from over, speech, 9 February 2023 viii Panetta, F., A digital euro: widely available and easy to use, speech, 24 April 2023 i
To refer only to big projects some have been finalized, as it is the case of the Danube-Black Sea Canal, which runs from Cernavodă, on the Danube, to Constanţa (southern arm, as main branch), and to Năvodari (northern arm), on the Black Sea. Other big projects are still in progress, such as the Danube–Bucharest Canal, a 73-kilometre long canal project that is planned to link Bucharest to the Danube via Argeş River. Thus, at the completion of this project Danube could become home for five capitals, including Bucharest. This conference has two main objectives. One is to bring together Romanian financial sector representatives and project initiators; the other one is to find appropriate financial instruments to better highlight the remarkable business potential of the lower Danube basin. I do hope this conference is going to offer you all the opportunity for successful networking and may you find appropriate solutions for vital issues regarding the agenda. I desire you all success with the materialization and accomplishment of your present and future projects and I conclude by wishing all the foreign guests at this conference a good stay in Romania. I am now giving the floor to Mr Kurt Puchinger, Coordinator of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region and chair of the first session, to start the conference. Thank you. 2  BIS central bankers’ speeches