The NBU and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) have signed the Memorandum of Cooperation concerning the implementation of the third phase of the Bilateral Assistance and Capacity Building for Central Banks (BCC) Program (hereinafter referred to as the “Program”).
The Memorandum was signed on 12 December 2023, when NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyy and Deputy Governor Sergiy Nikolaychuk met with representatives of the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine and HE Ambassador Félix Baumann.
The document defines the agreed-upon principles and key aspects of cooperation between SECO and the NBU under the Program in major areas such as analysis and implementation of monetary policy, macroeconomic data and statistics, research, financial stability and banking supervision, financial inclusion, development of the financial sector and payment systems, environmental sustainability, sustainability and risk management, human resources management, and international cooperation management.
“We are sincerely grateful to the Swiss Confederation for helping Ukraine and the NBU specifically. Amid an aggravation of geopolitical challenges, it is vital to strengthen the NBU’s institutional capacity to ensure financial and macroeconomic stability and to implement financial sanctions to increase pressure on the aggressor country,” said NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyy while addressing HE Félix Baumann, Ambassador of Switzerland to Ukraine, as they signed the Memorandum.
“Together with the NBU, we have achieved significant results in the previous phase of this Program, and we are pleased to announce its extension by another five years. This once again emphasizes the importance of cooperation between Ukraine and Switzerland,” said HE Félix Baumann, Ambassador of Switzerland to Ukraine.
The Program is aimed at supporting the development of central banks’ institutional capacity to pursue sound monetary policy and ensure financial stability. The executive agency of the Program is the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. The main forms of the Program’s implementation are: technical assistance and training seminars, applied research, conferences, and technical seminars to exchange experience.
The implementation of the third stage of the Program is planned for 2023–2028. In 2017–2023, the NBU participated in the second stage of the Program.
The central banks of Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Peru, and Tunisia also participate in the Program.