The 9th Dubrovnik Economic Conference on Banking in Transition Countries

Published: 26/6/2003

The 9th international conference on the reforms, results and development experiences of transition and emerging market economies, organized by the Croatian National Bank, started in Dubrovnik on Thursday, June 26.This year's Conference will focus on banking and financial systems.

The Conference will be attended by around 80 domestic and foreign participants coming from the most prominent international financial institutions (International Monetary Fund, World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) and several central banks, the representatives of numerous commercial and investment banks from Croatia and other countries, as well as scientists from the renowned world universities and institutes dealing with these issues.

In his welcome address on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, Slavko Linić, Deputy Prime Minister thanked the participants for their persistent interest in this meeting and the efforts to use their expertise, the analyses and information about the countries, which have been faced with the same dilemmas and difficulties in transforming and developing their economic and financial systems, as a contribution towards finding better solutions. And, as no country is "an island", particularly in the time of increasing globalization, each of these countries can only profit from sharing these comparable experiences. Dubravka Šuica, mayoress of Dubrovnik wished the participants a nice stay and a successful work in the city, which has, since ancient times, recognized the importance of banking for the total economic and social development.

In his word on behalf of the organizers, dr. Boris Vujčić, Deputy Governor of the CNB reminded the audience of about 400 participants who attended the conferences so far, some of them were world-famous scientists and economic and financial decision makers. He also mentioned that 136 scientific and research papers were presented at the past Dubrovnik conferences, dealing with the greatest challenges with which transition countries were confronted during the last decade. In addition, several books containing the selected papers were published. It can therefore be expected that that the current conference will also make a valuable contribution in this respect.

The discussion will be based on a number of previously prepared presentations and research papers written by domestic and foreign participants. Let us mention some of the interesting and topical themes: ownership and bank performance in transition countries; reforms and efficiency in banking: transition economies; the impact of foreign entry and bank privatization on access to credit in Latin America; competition, consolidation and foreign entry into the Croatian banking system; the evolution of the insurance sector in transition economies; macroeconomic and financial implications of bank and credit growth in Middle and Eastern Europe; finance and growth in transition countries: evidence from Southeast Europe; bankruptcy procedures, corporate government and banks' credit policy in Croatia, Estonia and Poland; private pension funds and emerging capital markets - conditions and consequences; the prospects of capital markets in Central and Eastern Europe; market discipline and financial stability; who pays for bank insolvency, financial stability in emerging markets.

Like in all previous years, it is expected that a dynamic and open exchange of views and experiences, not only during the official program but also during informal individual or group contacts between the participants, will prevail throughout the conference.