michael gondwe : encouraging local content and business linkages – role of the financial sector opening remarks by dr michael gondwe, governor of the bank of zambia, at the 2013 sme local content and business linkage forum, lusaka, 28 november 2013. * * * • the guest of honour, minister of finance, honourable alexander b. chikwanda, mp ; • the world bank country director, ms kundhavi kadiresan ; • senior government officials and development partners present ; • heads and representatives of financial institutions ; • business industry and associations represented ; • distinguished invited guests ; • members of the press ; • ladies and gentlemen. on behalf of the bank of zambia and indeed on my own behalf, i wish to extend a very warm welcome to you all to this very important forum. some of you may recall that in june last year, together with the world bank, we organised a strategic forum for small and medium enterprises ( sme ) on the “ role of finance for unleashing the potential of local zambian businesses ”. the objective of that forum was to facilitate strategic policy dialogue between the government, bank of zambia, the financial sector and the private sector on issues central to facilitating access to finance by zambian businesses including smes. as bank of zambia, we believe that it is important to sustain this dialogue to facilitate an inclusive strategy in the financial sector development. guest of honour following on the success of the 2012 forum, it was felt that the momentum gained from that forum should not be lost. this forum is, therefore, a follow up event from the one held last year. the theme of this year ’ s event is “ encouraging local content and business linkages : role of the financial sector ” arising from last year ’ s event, nine major recommendations were made as follows : i. set up of a credit guarantee facility ; ii. establish a credit line to be provided by a wholesale institution such as dbz coupled with training for financial institutions ; iii. training for msmes / financial education to be an integral part of on - going efforts to support access to finance ; iv. establish a central collateral registry ; v. develop a national msmes financing policy ; vi. initiate legal reforms for speedy settlement of commercial transactions and resolution of disputes ; vii. develop incentives for financial institutions that service the needs of msmes ; bis central bankers ’ speeches viii. develop a legal framework for consumer protection and data protection ; and ix. monitoring and regulation of

caleb m fundanga : the role of professionals in economic development remarks by mr caleb m fundanga, governor of the bank of zambia, at the annual national development conference of the zambia institute for policy analysis and research, lusaka, 28 november 2009. * * * hon minister of finance and national planning, dr situmbeko musokotwane the permanent secretary budget and economic affairs, mr emmanuel ngulube zipar executive director a€ “ mwilola imakando distinguished guests, members of the press ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed a pleasure for me to be invited to this very important gathering to give a scope of the conference. the central theme of my address today is the role that professionals are expected to play in economic development in general and in the provision of public goods and services in particular. you will agree with me that the levels of professionalism in our country has somewhat declined in the recent past. nowadays, it is not rare to hear of corrupt practices and unethical conduct in the both the public and private sectors. this has no doubt compromised professionalism. ladies and gentlemen, as you are aware, professionalism entails possessing specialist knowledge and following a standard of conduct based on ethics that govern the use of this knowledge when providing a service to the public. professionals provide essential and valuable services to any society. it is for this reason that the public depend on them more and more as economies advance. therefore, professional status is an implied social contract to provide a service over and above normal duties. in this regard, a professional is viewed as one who carries additional moral responsibility and is honest, objective, impartial and with high integrity. mr chairman, the importance of a professional civil service in zambia cannot be overemphasised. if we are to succeed economically as well as socially, we need to demonstrate appropriate levels of professionalism. a professional is open to views of others and are objective and their decisions are made in the best interest of the country. as professional in zambia we need to evaluate our performance and aim to constantly improve. we need to see ourselves as part of the solution rather than the problem. further, it is important to realise that civil service is a key component of government as it supports the formulation and implementation of government policies and service delivery to the public. a professional civil service also ensures that government objectives and goals are achieved in an effective and efficient manner thus assuring confidence to the public. in order to carry out their duties, professionals need