harvesh seegolam : current challenges and the pathway to the greening of reserves management keynote speech by mr harvesh seegolam, governor of the bank of mauritius, at the pan african central bank conference on risk and reserve management, port louis, 22 june 2023. * * * governor deputy governors distinguished guests members of the press ladies and gentlemen all protocol observed a very good morning to all of you. let me join my deputy governors in extending a very warm welcome to the governor, deputy governors and representatives of central banks to mauritius. it is with pleasure that the bank of mauritius is hosting this pan african central bank conference on risk and reserve management. i am sure that the last two days have broadened your perspective and equipped you with the requisite knowledge to enhance your skills in the subject matter. i would also want to laud the german agency cooperation ( giz ) and allianz global investors for this initiative across the sadc region, as well as acknowledge the continuous support of the wits business school, university of witswatersrand from south africa. my address today will be on a highly topical issue which is increasingly hogging the limelight of sustainable central banking. ladies and gentlemen, according to the world economic forum, around 50 % of global gdp is moderately or highly dependent on nature. weather - related disturbances around the world are becoming more frequent and chaotic. climate - related disasters and their unpredictable patterns have been detrimental to many economies. what is striking with these disturbances is that a localized weather - related shock can unsettle the entire climate pattern throughout the world and generate weather - related hazards in other parts of the world. examples abound, like wildfires in australia, droughts in africa, and floods in haiti. the list goes on. we have already reached the tipping point regarding the climate issue and the sustainability agenda needs to be at the forefront for us to stand at least a fighting chance. failure to do so will irremediably move us from the covid frying pan into the climate fire. due to the negative externalities that a weather hazard can pose across countries, efforts spearheaded to address those cannot be limited at the individual country level. rather, it has become increasingly conspicuous that a global coordinated effort is required to mitigate the problem and adapt to it so that we may protect the planet and preserve inter - generational legacy. 1 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches with this in mind, leaders of nations signed the

policies that support the competitiveness of european smes relate to integration and innovation in the retail payments market, particularly for payments in euro. the establishment of the single euro payments area ( sepa ) has given europe harmonised and efficient payment methods that help facilitate growth for smes. innovative retail payments services such as instant payments, a topic i will further address in a few moments, can free up cash flow and improve liquidity. looking to the future, a strong market infrastructure within a capital markets union moves us closer to a true single market in europe and further integration in the euro area. this is why the eurosystem fully backs the creation of cmu. we welcome the early actions laid out in the commission ’ s action plan and believe sustained effort and an ambitious agenda will be required beyond these initial steps, together with a long - term vision, in order to make full cmu a reality. continuing to look ahead, i would now like to turn to the second initiative i mentioned at the start. bis central bankers ’ speeches initiative 2 : our vision for 2020 this second big initiative currently underway is the eurosystem ’ s vision for 2020 – our strategy for market infrastructure that is to be progressively developed and delivered over the next five years. i would like to briefly outline the three main pillars of the eurosystem ’ s vision for 2020, which summarise what we want to achieve over the next five years in the field of market infrastructure. the first point of action is to explore synergies between target2 and t2s. we will consolidate the technical infrastructure so that target2 can benefit from state - of - the - art features currently available in t2s. we will adapt both platforms to keep up with technological change. the second goal under our vision is to develop a pan - european instant payments solution. digitalisation is changing consumers ’ expectations and people are right to ask themselves why, if they can send an email to the other side of the world in a split second, do they have to wait hours or even days for a bank transfer to go through. it is true that some national solutions have emerged, but they do not have pan - european reach. to prevent silos and closed loop solutions, the eurosystem envisages that instant payment services should be built on three layers : the scheme layer, the clearing layer and the settlement layer. a common scheme for instant payments should harmonise how payment service providers interact with their customers and with other payment service