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The contract “Strengthening the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus” was signed by Head of the EU Delegation to Belarus Andrea Wiktorin, Director of the Technical Central Bank Cooperation at Deutsche Bundesbank Martin Dinkelborg, and Deputy Chairman of the Board of the National Bank Sergei Kalechits.

The project will be implemented in 2018-2019 by a consortium of banks: Deutsche Bundesbank, the National Bank of Poland and the Bank of Lithuania. The partner banks will share advanced experience and modern banking operation methods. The budget of the project is €1.15 million.

The project envisages a number of measures to strengthen the payment system, enhance financial stability, improve bank supervision and manage financial risks. The participants of the project are also set to improve the protection of customers of financial services and the information policy of the National Bank.

“The project will help the National Bank enter a qualitatively new level and enhance its capacity. We have a great honor to be the first government body to implement the Twinning project. The National Bank has big plans to develop the national financial market and implement new methods and standards,” Sergei Kalechits said at the signing ceremony.

Andrea Wiktorin thanked the National Bank team for the tremendous preparatory work. “The National Bank did a great job. You have a good reputation in all EU institutions. The first Twinning project is aimed at strengthening the capacity of the Belarusian National Bank in carrying out its core functions. The program aims to reduce the inflation, increase the stability of the Belarusian ruble, strengthen the banking supervision, improve the reliability of the payment system and strengthen the overall credibility of the system for the benefit of the Belarusian people and economic entities,” Andrea Wiktorin said. The head of the EU Delegation to Belarus expressed the hope that other government agencies of the country will realize the full potential of such projects. The EU is ready to build new partnerships with the use of this instrument in accordance with the policy of good-neighborliness.

The Twinning program was established in May 1998 as a tool to provide technical assistance to the countries seeking to join the EU. In 2004, the EU began to apply it in respect of the partner countries to bring their legislation in various areas to the pan-European level, to introduce best practices from EU partners.