18million ). increased participation in both the money and capital markets by non - bank financial institutions with proposals for issuance of other corporate bonds are also under current consideration. mr chairman, some of the key sectors with potential investment include agriculture, mining, manufacturing, tourism and energy. mr. chairman, given all these developments which i have cited, one can tell that there are enormous possibilities for the financial sector in zambia. in this regard, our expectation, at the bank of zambia, is that the financial sector should take a leading role in facilitating further developments in the areas which i have discussed. however, during our interactions, key players in the financial sector have informed us that they have a limited capacity to provide the required services in this regard. this forum has therefore been organized and arranged by the bank of zambia to bring together zambian financial sector players and international financial players who have an interest to see that zambia takes its rightful place in the world economy. our expectation is that after this forum, we shall see the emergence of an interactive and symbiotic alliance between international and zambia financial institutions whose goal will be to provide financial services that will uplift the well - being of the zambian populace at large. this sounds like a difficult task to achieve but it is my conviction that it is better to begin a step towards this direction rather than waiting for it happen in future. on a lighter note, ladies and gentlemen, let me remind you that the soccer world cup to be hosted by south africa in 2010, has attracted increased demand in the construction and tourism sectors in the whole southern african region. zambia needs to take advantage of this and invest heavily in the tourism industry to benefit from the event ; particularly that it has a vast number of national parks and the victoria falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. obviously this can only be done if there is long term partnerships between local financial institutions and international financial institutions like the ones invited here today. mr. chairman, ladies and gentlemen, i thank you for your attention.

played by various stakeholders, the bank of zambia believes that a multi - partner stakeholder process is the most appropriate for zambia, as it would enable greater mobilization of stakeholders and resources for the promotion of financial literacy in the country. the bank of zambia, will therefore, provide the initial leadership but it will be critical for all stakeholders to support, and buy - in into the strategy development process. ladies and gentlemen, the tremendous support of the various stakeholders to the agenda of the fsdp cannot go un - noticed. the technical and financial support provided by a number of our development partners including the swedish government, the finnish government, the world bank, imf, dfid, the united states treasury and first initiative, and now the financial education fund have gone a long way in slowly making this vision a reality. the bank of zambia and the government are, therefore, most grateful to our cooperating partners for helping us build capacity in our financial sector. honourable minister, it is also our view that the fsdp provides a unique opportunity through its structures, operating on the principle of private - public partnership, to take responsibility for overseeing the development of the financial education strategy for zambia. one of the key issues that this partnership should help address is achieving consensus on resource requirements for implementing financial education programmes and agreeing suitable funding models that can generate a stream of resources to support sustained provision of financial education over the long - term. ladies and gentlemen, it is now my pleasure to call upon the guest of honour, to give us his key note address and to officially open this workshop. honourable minister sir.