bank has been providing fully funded scholarships to five outstanding economics students at third and fourth year levels. this support is also expected to shift to postgraduate economics programmes as soon as the modalities are agreed between the two institutions. vice chancellor, we are aware that the supplementary funds provided by boz cannot meet all your requisite needs with regard to enhancing your research capacity. i therefore urge you to forge other linkages that promote research. i have in mind the african economic research consortium ( aerc ) whose principle objective is to strengthen local capacity for conducting independent, rigorous inquiry into problems pertinent to the management of economies in sub - saharan africa. aerc was established in 1988 as a public not - for - profit organization devoted to advanced policy research and training in economics. however, it is rare to find zambians utilizing the facilities which are offered by this organization. our hope is that with this information, we will see more papers by unza academicians on the aerc website in the near future. in order to encourage research on local issues by our own researchers, i am contributing an book to the unza library by professor paul collier, the director for the study of african economies at oxford university. the book, “ the bottom billion ” provides an example of the sort of issues which we expect our own authors to be able to elucidate on more clearly from their own experiences. in the book, collier analyses the causes of failure by fifty failed states, pointing to a set of traps that snare these countries. these traps include civil war, a dependence on extraction and export of natural resources, being land - locked, and bad governance. surely our experience with some of these “ traps ” should make us better experienced to explain the issues. this is what we expect of unza. vice chancellor, on our part, we will continue to assist unza as guided by the mou. we are very confident that the support that unza is receiving from partners such as boz will go a long way in furthering academic excellence and uplifting the levels of morale among faculty members. i thank you!

and i note that we have colleagues from the imf and world bank group leading the discussions. ladies and gentlemen, considerations of bank resolution and crisis management and a review of key lessons drawn from the banking turmoil in the united states and europe of march 2023 are also matters that deserve discussion. this is relevant to all of us as supervisors, as the question is not whether there will be bank crisis in our respective jurisdictions, but when there is a bank crisis, are we ready and do we have the right tools to deal with the crisis that may ensue, especially in this digital age. just this month, here in zambia, the bank of zambia as the regulatory and resolution authority took possession of one the local banks due to insolvency. it is a test rehearsal of the inaugural crisis simulation exercise that we conducted in may 2023. and there are a number of lessons to be learnt especially as it relates to coordination of regulators and the fiscal authorities. it has also demonstrated that the need to have the right playbook to contain the risks that may arise from a failed institution is critical. ladies and gentlemen, i have also taken note of the second day's agenda which will review and plan the work activities under the three cabs working groups namely : cross - border banking supervision ; crisis management and banking resolution ; and basel regulations. this work is critical as it forms part of the preparatory work for the 46th annual meetings of the association of african central banks ( aacb ) scheduled for july 28 a€ “ august 2, 2024, in tripoli, libya. ladies and gentlemen, i believe that the work being done under cabs is laying the foundation for something greater. the continent needs to move towards attainment of having consistent prudential regulations and supervisory frameworks. i am cognizant of the various work that we are doing under different regional blocks that support harmonization of regulatory and supervisory frameworks, but we need to start moving towards harmonization across the continent. if we do not achieve harmonization, this will mean that regional and pan - african banking groups that operate across nations have to deal with divergent regulatory and supervision regimes such as basel standards, anti - money laundering and know your customer rules. ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion, it is my hope that cabs will continue working hard in supporting the undertakings of the aacb governors and keep following up on its resolutions towards effective implementation of the objectives of the continent. the bank of zambia is exceedingly privileged