A high delegation of the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo headed by Governor Ismaili is participating in high-level meetings at the European Central Bank

A high delegation of the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo (CBK), headed by Governor Ahmet Ismaili, is participating in high-level meetings at the European Central Bank (ECB) with the governors and deputy governors from six Western Balkan countries, regarding integration into the European system of central banks, namely the SEPA payment scheme and the TIPS fast payments system.

The meetings were opened by the member of the Executive Board of the ECB, Mr. Piero Cipollone who replaced Mr. Fabio Panetta, recently appointed as Governor of the Bank of Italy. Mr. Cipollone gave the main messages of support for this initiative.

In the framework of the four sessions, where central banks from the states of the region made presentations, Governor Ismaili, on behalf of the Central Bank of the Republic of Kosovo, presented the current work and plans of the CBK for the development and modernization of the payment system, with the aim of connecting with the regional systems and with the European Union.

On the sidelines of these meetings, experts from the European Central Bank, the Bank of Italy, the Bank of France and the Central Bank of Germany discussed topics on the infrastructure of the financial market, developments and innovations for payment instruments, new technologies, digital currencies of central banks and digital euro.

In the framework of supporting the EU project for the Modernization of the Payments Systems of the Western Balkan countries, and the objectives of the G20, the ECB is supporting concrete initiatives such as the interconnection of payment systems and the inclusion of our region in the European Union systems.

In this regard, the Republic of Kosovo is part of this agenda, and the CBK has included within its Strategic Plan as an objective to enable the fast payments 24/7, with the ultimate goal of participating in the TIPS payments system.

The advancement of the national system through enabling of the “instant” payments (24/7), as well as the connection with the TIPS system is the objective of the CBK, which when achieved will have a great impact on the economy of our country, the region, the diaspora, as well as the circulation of payments for commercial exchanges with the EU, as the largest commercial partner of the Republic of Kosovo.

Primarily, a welcoming meeting was booked by the Deputy President of the European Central Bank, Mr. Luis de Guindos, for the Governor of the Central Bank, who thanked him for the cooperation so far and the full support of the ECB in this very important project both locally and in the integration process as our aspiration.