20/12/2021

NBS successfully completes yet another stage of cooperation with EU within IPA regional project

Together with partners from the ESCB and the region, the NBS successfully completed yet another IPA-funded project. In the past 33 months, the Deutsche Bundesbank, together with 19 national banks from the ESCB, the ECB and the European Commission, implemented the “Programme for Strengthening the Central Bank Capacities in the Western Balkans with a view to the Integration to the European System of Central Banks”. The aim of the programme was to upgrade the regulatory convergence and to further approximate to EU and international standards by strengthening the institutional capacities of central banks and supervisory authorities in the Western Balkans. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, all project goals have been fulfilled. By taking part in the project, the NBS once again demonstrated its strong commitment to the European values and central banking standards applied in the EU.

The project covered numerous activities in the areas of: banking supervision, financial stability, financial consumer protection and financial inclusion, recovery and resolution, monetary policy, payment systems, statistics, compliance and EU integration, governance policies, accounting and internal audit. The implemented activities such as seminars, workshops, bilateral measures and internships, have additionally strengthened the institutional capacities, the drafting of actions plans and guidelines, but also cooperation between colleagues, central bankers who are now better prepared for tackling any future challenges in the local and international environment.  
Central banks nowadays have an increasingly important and complex role in maintaining financial stability, and cooperation and exchange of experience give an important contribution to forging an adequate response to all global challenges. Projects of this type are a two-way street, with participants learning from one another by discussing issues of common interest, all with a view to attaining EU standards and joining the EU.

The project has reinforced the NBS’s negotiating capacity within the eleven chapters where it plays an important role.

Governor’s Office