Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provides economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries to provide a better future for all. USAID is an independent federal government agency that receives overall foreign policy guidance from the U.S. Secretary of State. Its work supports long-term and equitable economic growth and advances U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting: economic growth, agriculture and trade; global health and democracy; conflict prevention; and humanitarian assistance. With headquarters in Washington, DC, USAID's strength is its field offices around the world. It works in close partnership with American business, indigenous organizations, international agencies, other governments, other U.S. government agencies, private voluntary organizations and universities. USAID has working relationships with more than 3,500 American companies and over 300 U.S. based private voluntary organizations. For more information, please visit www.usaid.gov. The PFS Program is managed by USAID's Office of Economic Growth (EG) in the Europe and Eurasia Bureau (E&E). The EG office focuses on economic restructuring including energy and infrastructure, macroeconomic policy reform, and developing the microeconomic foundations to sustain competitive economic growth. A key focus is promoting institutional development and building human capacity. Economic growth programs support the development of sound macroeconomic and microeconomic reforms to help accelerate the transition from centrally-planned to market economies through technical assistance, training and credit activities. The areas of concentration include bank and non-bank financial intermediation, financial market supervision and regulatory reform, capital market development, privatization, corporate governance, commercial law and judicial reform, accounting, financial crimes, fiscal and pension reform as well as enterprise development. For more information, please visit www.usaid.gov/locations/europe_eurasia/mt/. East-West Management Institute (EWMI) is a not-for-profit organization that promotes economic and legal reform in countries making the transition to a free-market economy. EWMI provides advice and technical services in capital market development, enterprise restructuring, legal and regulatory reform, privatization and rule of law. Recognizing the importance of viable civil societies in reinforcing economic and legal reform, EWMI also supports local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) by providing international networking opportunities and training. For more information, please visit www.ewmi.org. Partner Organizations - Partner organizations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), South East Europe (SEE) and other countries include: Central Banks, commercial banks, consulting firms, Financial Intelligence Units, financial sector regulatory authorities, law firms, Ministries of Finance, Ministries of Justice, professional associations, research institutions, self-regulatory associations, stock exchanges and universities. Links to these institutions may be found on the Links page of this website. Between December 2000 and March 31, 2008: 57 institutions from CEE countries have contributed towards costs of PFS Program activities; 39 institutions from SEE countries have contributed towards costs of PFS Program activities; 12 US institutions have contributed towards costs of PFS Program activities; and 35 institutions from other countries have contributed towards costs of PFS Program activities. During the same time period, the PFS Program has co-financed a total of 34 grants with partner institutions in seven CEE countries and four SEE countries.