fundanga : islamic banking – building partnerships for development opening remarks by dr caleb m fundanga, governor of the bank of zambia, to the islamic banking conference “ building partnerships for development ”, lusaka, 20 october 2008. * * * the guest speaker, mr. ahmad zaini bin othman chief executive officers of banks and non bank financial institutions ; distinguished invited guests ; colleagues ; ladies and gentlemen ; on behalf of the bank of zambia and indeed on my own behalf, i would like to extend a very warm welcome to you all to this important conference on islamic banking. to our guest speaker, mr ahmed zaini othman, i wish to extend a special welcome to you to zambia and in particular to lusaka, the capital city. like the rest of zambia, lusaka is a city of tranquility with an easygoing african charm. the city is not short of interesting sites and places to visit. i therefore urge you to find time or indeed stay an extra day or more to sample this special menu that lusaka offers. i also wish to extend my sincere thanks to standard chartered bank zambia plc, the islamic council of zambia and the eastern province chamber of commerce and industry for graciously accepting to make presentations at this conference. ladies and gentlemen, the bank of zambia is honoured and delighted to host the first islamic banking conference in zambia that begins today, the 20th and ends on 21st october, 2008. this conference on islamic banking could not have come at a more opportune time than now, when the financial sector in the country is called upon to widen financial inclusiveness. banks and non - bank financial institutions are being encouraged to increase availability of, and access to financial services to the population through the design of new and affordable products. it is through conferences and fora of this nature, among other events, that bank of zambia endeavours to disseminate information and share experiences with stakeholders about the importance of developing the financial sector. ladies and gentlemen, the last few decades have witnessed a rapid growth in islamic banking both in terms of size and the number of players. islamic banking is currently practiced in more than 50 countries worldwide. in some countries only islamic banking is allowed while in others islamic banking coexists with conventional banking. islamic banking is not limited to islamic countries. in august 2004, for instance, the islamic bank of britain became the first bank licensed by a non - muslim country to engage in islamic banking. according to recent industry estimates, islamic banking is set to

eyes of europe and the world, which is extremely positive. lastly, in 2017 basel iii was finalised. bankers – largely represented this evening – had expressed, alongside others, serious concerns. the agreement of 7 december 2017 is the best possible agreement for our country and for europe, thanks to the particularly active commitment of french negotiators. we maintain, against all temptation of nilateralism or deregulation, our commitment to the multilateral rules of the game in place since 2009. and we are stabilising these rules once and for all : there will not be a basel iv. in sum, 2017 positively marked a turning point for both the united states and france. the beginning of 2018 has thus been characterised by a welcome optimism, but one which must not act as a disincentive : confidence yes, complacency no. we must not lie back and enjoy the return of blue skies ; we must take steps to ensure that this improvement is transformed into stronger and sustainable growth. to this end, i wish to make four collective wishes for the coming year. 2. four wishes for 2018 my first wish concerns europe. this does not so much concern our monetary policy, which has 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches entered a gradual normalisation phase, and which is a success ; i will not discuss it further this evening during the " silent period ". 2018 must above all be the year of economic union, which still largely remains to be built. we must now or never take advantage of the recovery to tackle the shortcomings of the euro area. because france and germany ’ s electoral calendars are aligned for the first time in 15 years, and since last friday, there is a prospect of a pro - european coalition in germany. and because now is the time to strengthen our economic instruments in order to deal with a future european recession, the day it comes. otherwise monetary policy may be overburdened. my second wish concerns our country. the french economy is in much better shape, but there are still major drags on growth. at around 1. 9 %, we are above our potential growth rate, which means that we are coming up against more structural limiters. there are at least two indications of this : a persistent negative growth differential vis - a - vis the euro area of around half a percentage point, and a current account deficit and hence a lack of competitiveness. in order to increase the speed of the french economy, we need