The presence of some distinguished officials from the World Bank at this inauguration is an encouragement. 8.5 The SAARC member central banks should be happy to have been able to get the SAARC Payments Initiative off the ground within such a short period of time. Given the enthusiasm and commitment by all of us, I hope that we, as a regional group, will make a substantial contribution to trade, investment and economic activity of each of our countries and also the region, as a whole. Thank you. 4  BIS Review 35/2008
To sum up, weighing all the relevant indicators and adopting a forward-looking and mediumterm perspective, the Governing Council regards the current level of ECB interest rates as appropriate with a view to maintaining the outlook for continued price stability. Aspects of the Eurosystem’s communication policy The Treaty acknowledges that it is important in a democratic constitution for an independent central bank to be open, transparent and clear about the reasoning underlying its actions. Therefore, a number of reporting obligations exist for the ECB which aim at making the ECB accountable for its performance. Moreover, by communicating clearly with the public, the Eurosystem reinforces its credibility. In this regard, the Eurosystem’s approach bears comparison with the best practices of any other central bank. In practice the ECB has committed itself to exceeding the stringent requirements of the Treaty concerning transparency and accountability. For example, the ECB releases each month a bulletin providing detailed background information regarding the current assessment of the economic outlook. At the same time, with the more extended editions of the bulletin in March, June, September and December, we fulfil the Treaty requirement to publish a quarterly report. For the benefit of the general public, the ECB issues regular press releases and an introductory statement by the President, which is released immediately after the first Governing Council meeting each month. Furthermore, the ECB submits an annual report on its activities to the European Community institutions (the Council of the European Union, the European Commission and the European Parliament).