The euro: voices from the Commonwealth

The Central Bank of Malta and the School of Economics and Finance of Queen Mary University of London successfully held an international conference in London on Friday, 13 April.

The conference on the theme, The euro: Voices from the Commonwealth, introduced a novel dimension in that issues related to the role of the euro in the global financial system had rarely been tackled by academics and policymakers from Commonwealth countries. Furthermore, the UK decision to withdraw from the EU generated additional interest.

Among others speakers, the conference was addressed by Mahmood Pradhan, head of the mission of the International Monetary Fund to the euro area; Professor Franklin Allen, Imperial College London; Professor Jagjit Chadha, director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in the United Kingdom; Professor Athanasios Orphanides from the Sloan School of Management of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Arun Kumar Sharma, chief Investment officer with the Global Financial Markets Department of the International Finance Corporation; Dr Peter Westaway, chief economist with Vanguard Europe and Dr Richard Barwell, head of research at BNP Paribas Asset Management.

Economists from the Central Bank of Malta and Malta Enterprise presented original analysis on trade flows between Common- wealth countries and those of the European Union, as well as the Maltese economy’s experience during a decade of the euro area membership.

The Maltese Minister for Finance, Professor Edward Scicluna, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Malta also addressed the conference.