The article presents the background information and general overview of the twinning project carried out by the NBP in cooperation with the Bank of France and the Bank of Italy. The aim of the project was to assist the NBP to align with the European System of Central Banks and Eurosystem rules and procedures established in different fields of activity of the central bank. The project was composed of the following 7 components: payment system, monetary statistics, capital movements related to portfolio investments, accounting and reporting, banking supervision, internal audit, and IT system. At the request of the NBP additional activities were introduced in the field of financial stability and translation software tools.

The two-year project was launched in July 20, 2001 and was ended in September 21, 2003. The commitment of all the parties involved was vital to the success of the NBP twinning project. The concrete result from the project was that the NBP became ready to operate within the ESCB prior to the date of the EU accession.