, of course, first the responsibility of monetary policy, which has been assigned to the eurosystem since january 1. incidentally, monetary policy is european commission, economic forecasts spring 1999. also making the most valuable contribution to growth and employment by ensuring price stability. to enable the european system of central banks ( escb ) to fulfil its task, its independence was enshrined in the maastricht treaty ( article 107 ). neither the ecb, nor a national central bank, nor any member of their decision - making bodies is allowed to take instructions from any government. similarly, the governments of the member states shall not seek to exert any influence on monetary policy. in the last months, this second part of the article of independence was neglected by some parties. the signatories of the maastricht treaty have, however, and rightly so, acknowledged that a “ depoliticised ” money can only be brought about, if all policy areas duly respect the independence of the central bank. at the beginning of this month, the governing council of the ecb - fully independently and with total responsibility for price stability - lowered the interest rate for the main refinancing operations from 3. 0 % to 2. 5 %. this decision was in line with the two pillars of its strategy and was taken with a view to the future. it was generally welcomed. however, the ecb governing council made it clear that those responsible for other policy areas are now even more obliged to take the necessary steps. iii the international role that the euro will play in the future will be determined particularly by the policies pursued in the euro countries. it will hinge crucially on the euro ’ s stability and the success of emu and on the markets ’ confidence in the new currency. i should like to stress at this juncture that it was never intended to establish the euro as a “ counterweight ” to the dollar - although some commentators saw it like that. the relationship of the european currencies to the us dollar had previously depended, in particular, on the size and openness of the respective economic area, the breadth and depth of the financial market, and the preferences of international investors. in the case of the d - mark it was certainly the profound confidence of market participants in the stability of the german currency that established is as the second most important reserve and investment currency after the us dollar. as far as the size and openness of the

intergenerational savings fund aims to promote long - term prosperity and ensure intergenerational equity in the distribution of net economic benefits from the intertemporal utilization of the country's natural resources. ladies and gentlemen, 11. scaling up renewable energy is no easy task and calls for mobilising massive savings and investing them productively in a risky environment. renewables bring far - reaching benefits in terms of human health, energy access, environmental protection, and the response to climate change, along with the potential to create new jobs around the world. sustainable energy finance is essential in the energy transition and innovation. meeting a future global increase in energy demand in a sustainable way while reducing emissions from existing infrastructure will require billions of dollars of investment. however, there is currently a gap of many hundreds of billions of dollars between existing investments and what is required. this means that, as a country, we will need to ensure that the investment climate is conducive to attracting such investments, in addition to mobilizing local resources. 3 / 4 bis - central bankers'speeches 12. ladies and gentlemen, my remarks are not aimed at preempting the discussions and ideas that we will have during the course of this symposium. they are not to create an impression that we know and have all the solutions. the symposium, therefore, offers us the opportunity to collectively reflect and deliberate on this important topic, particularly around a few things which i believe are crucial to transforming the namibian economy and converting challenges into opportunities. in this regard, i would like you to ponder on these few questions for the consideration of the experts on this subject, those of us who are policymakers, practitioners in this sector, and all participants in this symposium. how to ensure that the discovered minerals / natural resources ( oil – onshore and offshore ) and green hydrogen development benefits and contributes to broadbased development that results in employment creation and reduction of poverty and inequality? how to prevent the dutch disease / resource curse? what should the regulatory landscape be so that namibia optimally benefits from these discoveries, including ownership? is the current regulatory landscape adequate to ensure the country gets a fair share of the discovered resources and also competitive to attract fdi? how can synergies between new investments and existing policies, such as local participation and local procurement and value addition, be enhanced? director of ceremonies, ladies and gentlemen, 13. allow me to end my remarks with a quote by john h schaar, " the