Ljubljana - Banka Slovenije is hosting a high-profile conference on Wednesday featuring senior bankers from Slovenia and abroad who will discuss the challenges of monetary policy and central banks. The conference will mark the 30th anniversary of Slovenia's central bank.

The event in Ljubljana's Cankarjev Dom will be addressed by Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, and Boštjan Vasle, governor of Banka Slovenije, along with senior officials of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and some national central banks.

The first part of the conference will look at the milestones in the 30-year history of the Slovenian central bank with Alfred Kammer, director of the European Department at the IMF, as the keynote speaker.

This will be followed by a panel debate moderated by Egon Zakrajšek, a senior adviser with the BIS, and featuring Boris Vujčić, the governor of the Croatian central bank, Vojtech Benda, a member of the board of the Czech central bank, and Banka Slovenije Vice-Governor Tina Žumer Šujica.

The second part of the conference will focus on key challenges of central banks such as those related to normalisation of monetary policy, central banks' independence and expanding scope of their responsibilities.

Central banks are also facing structural challenges brought on by global changes, including those related to the digitalisation of money and payment systems and the financial risks posed by climate change and how to address it.

The panel debate will feature Vasle, his Portuguese and Estonian counterparts Mario Centeno and Madis Müller and Vice-President of the Deutsche Bundesbank Claudia Buch. The debate will be moderated by Arjana Brezigar Masten of the Slovenian central bank.