Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of theJoint Vienna Institute

July 12-13, 2012



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A Two-Day Conference in Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Joint Vienna Institute (JVI) was held at the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) in Vienna, Austria, on July 12-13, 2012.

This two-day conference brought together prominent policymakers, academics, and representatives of various international institutions to discuss lessons from the financial crisis and their implications for training and capacity development.

On July 12, panelists discussed “The Way Forward: Central, Eastern, & Southeastern Europe (CESEE)”. They focused on the lessons from the global economic crisis, and discussed measures needed for monetary and financial stability and what growth models are most appropriate for CESEE economies.

On July 13, panelists focused more specifically on the “Past, Present & Future of the JVI”. They discussed the lessons from the JVI’s two decades of operation and looked at the JVI’s future strategy in light of the policy challenges posed by the current global environment. These discussions fed into the broader question of how the JVI’s activities can best be integrated with the international community’s efforts to support capacity development, including through training and technical assistance.

The conference concluded with the JVI 2012 Annual Lecture, which was delivered by Professor Philippe Aghion.

The Way Forward: Central, Eastern, & Southeastern Europe
July 12, 2012
8:30 am Conference Registration & Coffee
9:45 am Welcome: Eduard Hochreiter, Director, Joint Vienna Institute
9:55 am Opening remarks:

Maria Fekter, Minister of Finance, Republic of Austria
Ewald Nowotny, Governor, Oesterreichische Nationalbank

Session I: Lessons from the Global Economic Crisis

As the world economy continues its uneven and subdued recovery from the global economic crisis, what are the big takeaways for policymakers in central, eastern, and southeastern Europe? One of the main lessons of the crisis was that GDP growth driven by credit booms, rapid growth in domestic demand, and large capital inflows is not sustainable. How can countries avoid such boom-bust cycles in the future? What is the difference between those countries that largely managed to avoid the buildup of imbalances and those that did not? What other lessons are relevant?

10:15 am Moderator: Miroslav Singer, Governor, Czech National Bank

Bas Bakker, Division Chief, European Department, IMF

Leszek Balcerowicz, Warsaw School of Economics, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Poland

Richard Boucher, Deputy Secretary-General, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

Simeon Djankov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Bulgaria

Thomas Wieser, President of the Economic and Financial Committee of the EU and President of the Permanent Working Group of the Eurogroup

General discussion

12:00 pm Coffee Break
12:15 pm Keynote speech: Nemat Shafik, Deputy Managing Director, IMF

  webcast Webcast

1:00 pm Lunch
Session II: Maintaining Monetary and Financial Stability

Has enough been done in terms of putting in place a more sustainable regulatory and macroprudential framework? What are the risks of disorderly bank deleveraging of Western European banks from the region, and will the Vienna Initiative 2.0 be as effective as the Vienna Initiative 1.0 in preventing this? In terms of monetary policy, what has been the experience of small countries pegging to the euro? For the members of the EU, should the goal still be to join the eurozone as quickly as possible?

2:00 pm Moderator: Jacques de Larosière, former IMF Managing Director, and President, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Ardian Fullani, Governor, Bank of Albania

Elena Kohútiková, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, VUB Bank

Robert McCauley, Senior Advisor, BIS

Piroska Nagy, Director for Country Strategy and Policy, EBRD

Ewald Nowotny, Governor, Oesterreichische Nationalbank

György Szapáry, Hungarian Ambassador to the United States

General discussion

4:00 pm Coffee break
Session III: Defining a New Growth Model

European integration delivered big growth dividends for most of central, eastern, and southeastern Europe until the crisis hit. But what will the process of convergence look like in the years to come? The still large income differentials between advanced and emerging Europe suggest there remains significant scope for further catching up. But with much of advanced Europe expected to grow more slowly because of the sovereign debt crisis, emerging Europe will find it harder to generate the growth needed. What will be the growth model of the future?

4:30 pm Moderator: Thorvaldur Gylfason, Professor of Economics, University of Iceland

Elena Flores, Director, DG Economic and Financial Affairs, European Commission

Arancha González, Chief of Staff, World Trade Organization (WTO)

Aasim Husain, Deputy Director, European Department, IMF

Michael Landesmann, Director of Research, Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw)

General discussion

6:15 pm Summary of the day and policy implications: Ewald Nowotny, Governor, Oesterreichische Nationalbank
8:00 pm Dinner (by invitation only)
  Dinner speech: Philippe Aghion, Professor of Economics, Harvard University
Past, Present & Future of the JVI
July 13, 2012
8:30 am Conference Registration & Coffee
Session IV: Lessons from the Past Twenty Years

Over the years, the JVI’s curriculum has changed considerably in reaction to the main economic issues and policy challenges at the time. In which areas has the JVI been most successful? What lessons have been learned by JVI stakeholders and recipient countries from 20 years of training at the JVI regarding both content and mode of delivery?

9:00 am Moderator: Johann Prader, Austrian Alternate Executive Director, IMF

Arancha González, Chief of Staff, WTO

Gani Gërguri, Governor, Central Bank, Republic of Kosovo

Alexandros Mourmouras, Chief of European Division, Institute for Capacity Development (ICD), IMF

Peter Sanfey, Lead Economist, EBRD

General discussion

10:30 am Essay & Video Contest Award Ceremony

Moderator: Eduard Hochreiter, Director, JVI

Session V: Looking to the Future

How can the JVI expand its role beyond training to also include capacity development and outreach? What are the implications for the institute’s strategy for next 3-5 years?

10:45 am Moderator: Sharmini Coorey, Director, ICD, IMF

Ardian Fullani, Governor, Bank of Albania

Alfred Katterl, Head of Division, Economic Policy, Federal Ministry of Finance, Austria

Bruno Laporte, Director of Thematic Knowledge and Learning, World Bank Institute

Bojan Marković, Vice Governor, National Bank of Serbia

Maarten Smeets, Head of TA Coordination Section, Institute for Training and Technical Cooperation, WTO

Georg Winckler, Former Rector, University of Vienna

General discussion

12:00 pm Summary of the day and implications for the JVI’s future strategy: Sharmini Coorey, Director, ICD, IMF
12:15 pm Coffee break
JVI 2012 Annual Lecture
"Growth and the Smart State"
12:30 pm

Moderator: Burkhard Drees, Deputy Director, JVI

Lecturer: Philippe Aghion, Professor of Economics, Harvard University

Discussant: Jan Svejnar, Professor of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

General discussion

1:15 pm Lunch