Frankfurt - The European Central Bank (ECB) launched a programme Monday to assist Serbia's central bank, the National Bank of Serbia (NBS), in implementing policies and training staff with a view to enhancing cooperation between the NBS and the ECB.

The programme was "an important step towards strengthening economic and financial cooperation" between the NBS and the central banks of the European Union (EU), as well as between the EU and the Republic of Serbia, it said.

The programme, described as a "nine-month needs analysis," is to cover six areas, including banking supervision and the harmonization of Serbian legislation in line with EU practice.

The other four areas are: liberalization of capital movements, conduct of monetary policy and foreign exchange rate regime, monetary, financial and balance of payments statistics, and financial services consumer protection.

The ECB said the EU had committed 400,000 euros (590,000 dollars) to the programme, in cooperation with 17 EU partner central banks.

The ECB and its partner national central banks are to send a coordinator for the programme to Belgrade for nine months. (dpa)