i nd myself asking one nal question : are we thinking creatively enough about how to solve the challenges we face and are we including enough different perspectives – is there enough diversity – in our analysis? are we to paraphrase john maynard keynes,'escaping from the old ideas'( keynes 1936 ). 34 i have outlined some of my thinking on how better communication can enhance central bank credibility, effectiveness and trust. i am looking forward to our discussion and the discussions to come. the review of our monetary policy strategy constitutes an important milestone. the ultimate goal must be – as remarked by president lagarde recently – to bring the ecb and the eurosystem as close as possible to all european citizens, the people we ultimately serve ( lagarde 2020 ). 35 once we have done that, we will know that the age of ‘ mumbling incoherence ’ is well and truly over. [ 1 ] i would like to thank giuseppe corbisiero and rebecca stuart for their contribution to my remarks. [ 2 ] see lucas, r. ( 1972 ), “ expectations and the neutrality of money, ” journal of economic theory, 4, 103 - 124 ; lucas, r. ( 1973 ), “ some international evidence on output - in ation tradeoffs, ” american economic review, 63, 326 - 334 ; and lucas, r. ( 1976 ), “ econometric policy evaluation : a critique, ” journal of monetary economics, supplement, 19 - 46. [ 3 ] kydland, f. and e. prescott ( 1977 ), “ rules rather than discretion : the inconsistency of optimal plans, ” journal of political economy, 85, 473 - 490. [ 4 ] see e. g. blinder, a., m. ehrmann, m. fratzscher, j. de haan, and d. jansen ( 2008 ), “ central bank communication and monetary policy : a survey of theory and evidence, ” journal of economic literature, 46 ( 4 ) : 910 – 945. [ 5 ] blinder, a. s., goodhart, c., wyplosz, c., hildebrand, p. and lipton, d., 2001. how do central banks talk?. centre for economic policy research. p66 [ 6 ] blinder, a. ( 1998 ), central banking in theory and practice, the mit press ; originally delivered as

caleb m fundanga : the importance of cross border information exchange for zambia remarks by dr caleb m fundanga, governor of the bank of zambia, at the launch of the alumniportal deutschland, lusaka, 25 november 2008. * * * • her excellency the ambassador of the germany embassy in zambia • management and staff from the germany embassy in zambia • fellow alumni • members of the press • distinguished invited guests • ladies and gentlemen guten abend meine damen und herren. i am truly honoured to officiate at this important launch of the alumniportal deutschland. i am informed that africa has a rare honour of being the first continent to implement the alumniportal deutschland. i am certain that our implementation process will define the failure or success of the whole project. we thus have a huge challenge to ensure that we achieve success and provide a benchmark for others to emulate. however, looking at the many beaming faces present in this room, i have no doubt that we will provide more than just a benchmark for others to follow. i am glad to note that we are all optimistic on the success of this project in zambia in particular and africa in general. we have a duty to represent our continent and give it the honour that it so deserves. your excellency, the launch of the alumniportal could not have come at more opportune time when cross border information exchange has become cardinal in every aspects of life especially trade. i am reliably informed that almost 250, 000 people from all over the world receive education or training in germany annually. furthermore, i am advised that about 2000 african students are awarded a degree every year. the germany curricular is certainly becoming increasingly influential in business and other field in africa. this is beneficial to our continent as we are in a position to benefit from interactions with a diverse human resource in alumni activities after completion of the courses or training. however, after graduation, a good number of us zambians have a tendency to forget and cut off all windows of communications with the past. we properly pack our certificates and contacts in our archives and let them accumulate dust. we therefore, end up forgetting the precious friends that were once a great part of our lives and a source of knowledge. it is no wonder that the country ’ s representations at international institutions like the united nations, international monetary fund and the world bank is very low. this is a sharp contrast to the levels of representations at such institutions by other african countries