In 1996, Russian central bankers Alexander Potemkin (left) and Irina Kryuchkova conferred with Allan Gray of the Bank’s Public Affairs Department.
From 1990 to 1999 the Kansas City Fed conducted its Foreign Central Bank Visitors Program, bringing a total of 73 central bank scholars to the Heartland.
The program was established after the Bank’s 1990 economic policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. That year’s symposium’s theme was “Central Banking Issues in Emerging Market-Oriented Economies.” According to a summary from the Bank’s archives, “At that symposium, leaders from central banks in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union expressed strong interest in having their staffs learn more about the purposes and functions of the Federal Reserve System.”
In response, the Kansas City Fed developed the visitors program and structured it to provide an overview of the Federal Reserve's mission areas.
Visits typically lasted about eight weeks, during which participants met with economists and spent time with Bank employees from various operational areas, including payments, bank supervision and administration. Visitors also traveled to New York to meet with Federal Reserve officials in charge of open market and foreign exchange operations.
Countries represented during the program and the number of participants for each: Bulgaria, nine; China, nine; Czechoslovakia, eight; Hungary, 10; Poland, 11; Romania, 13; and Russia,13. The program was discontinued as demand from foreign central banks declined.
The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City or the Federal Reserve System.