targeted public investment provides an important growth engine for the post - pandemic economy, which is further amplified by the commitment to carry out growth - enhancing reforms. moreover, the coordinated focus on green investment and digitalisation has the potential to generate additional productivity gains on a cross - european basis in view of the shared benefits of an orderly carbon transition and the positive network externalities from enhanced digital capacity across all member states. of course, fiscal support for basic research and development activities also serves as an international public good. another common principle that is relevant to all national reform plans is that improving the efficiency of public sector administration has the potential to boost economywide productivity in view of both the size of the public sector in european countries and the importance of efficient public sector administration to the operating costs and resilience of every sector. together with the success of the sure bonds, the eu - level bond issuance to fund the ngeu initiative will also advance the development of a deeper and more complete pan - european bond market and add to the stock of european safe assets. more generally, making progress on banking union and capital markets union would further support the european union ’ s growth prospects by increasing competition, reaping the benefits of economies of scale and boosting entrepreneurial risk - taking through an expansion in international risk sharing. of course, a true single market in financial services should be accompanied by a more general push to develop a single market for all tradable services across the eu. 2 / 2 bis central bankers'speeches

njuguna ndung ’ u : islamic finance – the african experience remarks by prof njuguna ndung ’ u, governor of the central bank of kenya, at the 2nd gulf african bank annual east & central africa islamic conference, nairobi, 3 – 4 may 2010. * * * suleiman shahbal, chairman, gulf african bank ltd ; najmul hassan, chief executive officer, gulf african bank ltd ; board members ; distinguished guests ; ladies and gentlemen : i am delighted and honoured to be here this morning to preside over the opening ceremony of this important conference. to start with, let me extend a very warm welcome to all of you who are attending this 2nd gulf african bank annual east and central africa conference titled “ islamic finance : the african experience ”. allow me in particular to extend a special hand of welcome to the international participants “ karibuni kenya ”. i also wish to convey the apologies of the governor, professor njuguna ndung ’ u, who would have wished to personally preside over this occasion but had to attend to other engagements. i will make some remarks that reflect his strong views on islamic finance and extend his best wishes for fruitful deliberations at the conference. the conference is important as it offer opportunities for the banking and financial sector fraternity to meet and discuss emerging industry developments, to learn from their accomplishments and challenges and to share views on sound practices. islamic finance is so far the fastest growing segment in the global financial industry. despite the global financial crisis, islamic finance has demonstrated strong growth with new areas of business such as mutual funds and takaful industry attracting a lot of attention. we need to understand this business model that will support our relative comparative advantage in the eac region. kenya was the first country in the east and central african region to introduce islamic banking. in this regard, two banks were licensed in the last two years to exclusively offer shariah - compliant products with many other conventional banks establishing a window specifically for shariah - compliant products. with this, i am proud to inform this gathering that the concept of shariah complaint banking has emerged as an alternative vehicle for mobilisation and supply of finance. for example, the two banks have already contributed in development agenda of the country by participating in shariah - compliant ( sukuks ) components of infrastructure bonds issued by the central bank of kenya on behalf of the government of kenya. we are still waiting for “ structured sukuk