Vienna Initiative – Full Forum (22-24 March 2023), Skopje

The National Bank will host the annual Vienna Initiative Forum

The National Bank has the privilege to host the annual Vienna Initiative Forum - an international cooperation for safeguarding the financial stability of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CESEE). The Forum will be held on 23 and 24 March in Skopje. This is one of the largest annual meetings in the area of finance in Europe that brings together all the relevant stakeholders, international financial institutions, European financial institutions, regulators and representatives of the private financial sector to discuss the future course of banking policies and macroeconomic issues. 

The Vienna Initiative is a platform that links international financial institutions, banking regulators and representatives of EU banking groups, present in the CESEE region. It was launched through coordination of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, at the height of the first wave of the global financial crisis in 2009. The Initiative provided a forum for decision making and coordination that helped prevent a systemic banking crisis and ensured that credit kept flowing to the real economies in the region. After the end of the global financial crisis, it continues to be a platform where regulators and banks discuss issues such as deleveraging, non-performing loans, bank fragmentation, implementation of the new regulatory standards for banks, and support for the region to adjust to the new growth model.

The Skopje Forum will be attended by high-level officials, governors of central banks from CESEE and high representatives of the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group, the European Central Bank and the European Commission, and representatives from the banking sector.

Full Forum Programme 

Welcoming remarks by Governor Anita Angelovska Bezhoska for the Vienna Initiative Full Forum, 22-24 March 2023, Skopje