Good practices should guide emerging economies: ECB

Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, today said efforts to ensure global stability and prevent crises have to be made constantly by all, guided by the principles of transparency, good practices and dialogue between relevant players.

"In this context, I am confident that mature and emerging economies -- among them India -- will continue to work in close cooperation in the years ahead to ensure that these important goals are met," he said.

The world economy is changing constantly. Emerging economies, which played a relatively modest role in the global economy 20 years ago, occupy a far more important place today, but one which will be dwarfed in importance by their role in the future, he noted. Since the world economy is evolving constantly, the rules of the game have to be continuously adapted.

International institutions and fora are changing and adjusting. Many initiatives have been taken and implemented. Altogether this should help make the global economic and financial system more resilient, he added.

"But we have also learned that it is never time for complacency. The next crisis is always different from the previous one. Both industrialised and emerging countries have to continue to work to keep up with new developments and challenges," Trichet said.

"New continents are not discovered every day. When Christopher Columbus died in 1506 in Valladolid, he was still convinced that his journeys had taken him to the coasts of India, and not to America. It is indeed always difficult to identify change, especially when such change is systemic," he added.

Closely related to this is the need to maintain a constant dialogue between the public and private sectors.