Brussels, 10/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - The second Euro-Mediterranean seminar of central banks took place on Tuesday and Wednesday in Cannes, by initiative of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Banque de France. Governors and high-level representatives of the whole of the Eurosystem, such as Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, member of the ECB board, and governors of the central banks of Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and the Palestinian Authority have continued their dialogue, which started a year earlier at the first seminar of this kind organised in Naples.
Jean-Claude Trichet, the President of the ECB, welcomed the “substantial” economic growth of the region, which was around 6% in 2004 and “is considerably higher than average growth in recent years”. Whereas the countries of the Mediterranean region have recorded high growth levels, low inflation and progress in reforms in their financial sector, participants also stressed the economic challenges to be faced, such as the high level of unemployment, public deficits and structural reforms. Discussions also focused on the benefits of transfers of money from immigrant workers and the impact of this on convergence between euro zone countries and the Mediterranean countries in terms of investment and growth. Also discussed was the issue of the independence of the central banks and the contribution this may make towards economic stability.