The 10th Dubrovnik Economic Conference, organised by the Croatian National Bank started today in Dubrovnik. This event traditionally gathers representatives of the most important international financial institutions, institutions responsible for monetary and economic policies from a large number of countries and scholars from the world's most prestigious universities.

Eighty participants from some twenty countries that arrived in Dubrovnik for this year's Conference will discuss during this two-day event a number of current issues, particularly those of significance to emerging developing markets sharing similar concerns and difficulties. The participants in this year's Conference include, in addition to their hosts from the Croatian National Bank and the representatives of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Central Bank, the Bank for International Settlements, the European Commission and central bank representatives from Austria, the Czech Republic, Israel, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovenia as well as renowned scholars from some twelve prestigious universities in the States, Britain, Italy and other countries active in the field of study that is being discussed at the Conference.

This year's Conference focuses on two groups of issues, the role of international financial institutions, in particular, the IMF, in emerging market crisis, and the monetary and the exchange rate policies in countries preparing to join the European Monetary Union and to introduce the euro. The representatives of the European Central Bank and the representatives of the central banks of Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary have prepared very interesting presentations, very relevant to Croatia, regarding the benefits of the introduction of the euro and the difficulties that the new EU Member Countries faced while making the necessary adaptations to introduce the common European currency.