Press Release No. 12/242

Press Release: Joint Vienna Institute Celebrates 20th Anniversary with High-Level Conference

June 28, 2012

The Joint Vienna Institute (JVI), a regional capacity-building and training center financed primarily by Austria and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will mark its 20^th anniversary this year with a high-level conference on July 12-13 (program attached).

The event, co-sponsored by the Austrian Central Bank, Austrian Finance Ministry, and the IMF, will chart the economic prospects for Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe (CESEE), take stock of twenty years of training at the JVI, and discuss the region’s future training and technical assistance needs. The conference will feature high level speakers, including Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter and Central Bank Governor Ewald Nowotny, IMF Deputy Managing Director Nemat Shafik, Governor of the Czech National Bank Miroslav Singer, former President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and former IMF Managing Director Jacques de Larosière, University of Iceland’s Thorvaldur Gylfason, and Phillipe Aghion of Harvard University.

“This is a crucial time for many economies in this region, as they work to pull themselves up and consolidate the gains of the last generation despite considerable headwinds in the global and regional economy. And it is the right time to chart the way ahead for these economies and have an open and constructive dialogue regarding their economic and capacity development needs,” said Ms. Shafik, who oversees the IMF’s training and technical assistance operations under the umbrella of the Fund’s Institute for Capacity Development.

“The 20^th anniversary of the JVI is also a fitting opportunity to celebrate the first-class training and other valuable support it has given to its member countries over the past two decades,” she added.

“The establishment of the JVI 20 years ago was a far-sighted initiative by all of its stakeholders and it has been a clear win-win arrangement for Austria, the region and the broader international community, especially considering Austria’s strong economic ties with the CESEE region,” Ms. Fekter said. “An institution like the JVI also combines different types of training and technical assistance and takes advantage of their synergies.”

“We continue to be committed to the JVI and look forward to another successful twenty years,” Mr. Nowotny said. “The content of training and the modes of delivery need to adapt to changing economic circumstances and policy challenges in a post-crisis world. We can safely rely on our international partners and the JVI’s excellent staff that these challenges will be met successfully.”

The JVI is an independent international organization and is the oldest of a global network of regional training centers run by or in cooperation with the IMF. It provides training mostly to participants from transition countries across Europe and Asia, with most of it delivered jointly with one or more of its stakeholder organizations, including the IMF, the Austrian Authorities, and others.

For more information and the full program, see the Conference website: http://www.imf.org/external/np/seminars/eng/2012/jvi/index.htm

More information:

Joint Vienna Institute (JVI): http://www.jvi.org/

IMF Regional Training Centers: http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/training.htm

IMF Technical Assistance: http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/tech.htm

Institute for Capacity Development: http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2012/pr12156.htm