next year. african renaissance involves not only governments but more importantly civil society and people at community and local levels who seek to improve the quality of their lives and to hold their leaders accountable. for our purposes, it would be expedient to focus on some of the economic aspects of the african renaissance, primarily prospects of africa ’ s economic growth, reconstruction and development through enhanced intra - and inter - continental trade. in this context, african renaissance calls for increased economic integration within the african continent to enlarge markets, facilitate free flow of investment, goods and labour. it calls for a more effective participation in the economic globalization process by the african countries and people by embracing change and technology. in this context, the relations with asia and the lessons it provides are critical lessons for african revival and re - birth. the economic development of the african continent as a whole lags significantly behind in terms of its contributions to global economic output. africa contributed only 3. 3 % of the aggregate world economic gdp in 1998 – exactly what the united kingdom contributed as a single country. africa ’ s total share in the global export market of goods and services stood at a paltry 1. 8 % in 1998 compared to asia ’ s 8. 1 % or the united states ’ 13. 8 %. this means that africa has a long way to go to improve its contribution to world trade by improving its productivity capability, competitiveness and harnessing of technology and skills. 5. asian recovery and the african renaissance the revival and sustenance of vigorous growth in the asian economies would almost certainly enhance the development of an african renaissance. since 1994 and through the crisis of 1997, african - asian trade has been significant. trade account figures between africa and asia indicate that total annual asian imports from africa almost doubled from us $ 7. 4 billion in 1994 to us $ 14. 3 billion in 1997, before receding somewhat to us $ 9. 5 billion in 1998. imports from sadc alone were us $ 4. 6 billion in 1994 and almost doubled to reach us $ 9. 0 billion in 1997 before dropping to us $ 5. 8 billion in 1998. during the same period, asian exports to africa have been fluctuating somewhat between us $ 11 billion and us $ 13 billion from 1994 to 1997 before increasing to us $ 14. 5 billion in 1998. annual exports to sadc increased from us $ 3. 4 billion in 1994 to us $ 5. 6 billion in 1997 with a marginal decline to us $ 5

place within seconds ; the system development and innovation within financial markets makes it possible to transact from anywhere in the world 24 hours a day, seven days a week. blockchain technology blockchain technology, another example of the recently trending phraseology, enables the ordering ( grouping ) of various transactions in an inexpensive decentralised manner by making use of a number of servers. these transactions are not only limited to near - real - time payments but can also include financial market transactions and information relating to the settlement thereof. blockchain has the ability to reduce transaction costs, as it takes away the requirement for intermediaries and is completely decentralised. bis central bankers ’ speeches blockchain is still in its infancy and while regulators and markets are still trying to get to grips with the concept of bitcoin, newer or more innovative technologies are already on our doorstep. 3. cybersecurity the developments in cyberspace are a cause of concern for regulators, financial market participants, business and informed consumers. with the interconnectedness of systems and the ease of internet access, regulators need to understand the cyber - threats that the financial system is exposed to. nearly every week one reads about the latest victim of a cyberattack, and the targets range from banking systems through consumer information held by retailers to social media facilitators and even governments. the rapid developments in technology and the cyber - world have opened the doors to a new and uncharted frontier. companies and countries alike are trying to get to grips with this latest threat and to find ways in which to mitigate the risk while protecting their information and reputation at the same time. governments, central banks, financial service providers and companies are expanding their cyber - protection capabilities. this means there is a growing demand for the limited technical skills available in this environment. the focus is, however, not only on prevention. in responding to security breaches, one has to respond with agility and speed while trying to limit the damage done and importantly to ensure continuity of service. conclusion in conclusion, i would like to revisit the idea of a “ game changer ”. a game changer can be the discovery of something as small as a molecule or the invention of something that transforms the way in which we communicate, like mobile telephony. the way in which one looks at game - changing innovations will alter the way in which one sees the world and will affect one ’ s strategies and business plans. game change