It is by all means a very ambitious project that includes more than 55 activities and benchmarks, more than 10 directives to be transposed, several legal acts to be prepared, and many internal procedures to be created for a better supervision that complies with the international best practices. This project comes at a very specific moment for the global financial sector. It aims to create conditions for long term economic stability and growth by strengthening the regulatory and supervisory frameworks of the capital and financial markets and by improving the institutional and regulatory capacities of the financial sector regulators to supervise financial markets and institutions in line with the EU acquis. Therefore, the objectives of the Twinning Project are fully in line with the main lesson from the crisis – that stability and growth cannot be maintained without a stable and well functioning financial sector. First, let me present our consortium and the project team. The consortium unites the experience of a Еurosystem central bank (De Netherlandsche Bank) – with a proven track record of successful technical assistance projects for accession country institutions – together with the expertise of the Bulgarian National Bank and the Financial Supervision Commission, both having the most recent and relevant experience in EU harmonization in a new Member State. This combination of experience is further strengthened by the longstanding and successful cooperation between the consortium members. The advantage of having a consortium is that it offers larger experience and a broader pull of experts from the twinning partner institutions.
Ivan Iskrov: Strengthening the regulatory and supervisory capacity of the financial regulators Opening remarks by Mr Ivan Iskrov, Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, at the official opening ceremony of the Twinning Project “Strengthening the Regulatory and Supervisory Capacity of the Financial Regulators”, Podgorica, Montenegro, 15 December 2009. *  *  *  Dear Twinning Partners, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, We have gathered here to start the Twinning Project “Strengthening the Regulatory and Supervisory Capacity of the Financial Regulators” funded by the European Union. It is my pleasure and privilege as the Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, which is the lead institution managing this project, to express on behalf of the management of the BNB our strong commitment to work with the twinning partners during the next 18 months to achieve the targeted results. In times of trouble when all financial supervisors are under severe pressure and when many projects in the financial sector tendered by the European Commission failed to find interest among EU member states, we are committing our resources, our best experts, expertise and knowledge to this project. The Republic of Bulgaria supports the European prospects for the Western Balkans, and Montenegro in particular. We strongly believe that our joint work will contribute to the country’s progress on the path of European integration.