the public ’ s acceptance and readiness for a higher value bank note. the results convinced the board it was time to introduce the $ 100 bank note. the technical work then kicked in with consultations on a theme and colour schemes with various groups and individuals. as part of this process, the central bank board appointed a “ bank note committee ”. [ one of the members was the late charles manata ]. this group, headed by the deputy governor, comprised of solomon islands artists, the director of national museum and selected cbsi managers, developed and advised the board on the theme, various features and colouring schemes. upon approval by the board, the printers were then engaged in the drawings, developing security and other technical features. a number of options were developed. these went through fairly intensive scrutiny in the bank, after which an endorsed sample of the note was printed, with all the specifications - size, colour scheme and of course security features - for ministerial approval. actual printing did not start until the final proof note – which had the exact specifications approved by the minister – received a final approval by the cbsi board. from the time initial assessments on the need for a higher value denomination were made to the time when the final proof note went to print, it was about five years. it took another 8 months before we took delivery of the first consignment of the note on thursday this week. i should add that the transportation and delivery of our currency stocks are handled under very heavy security arrangements – as it would have been witnessed on thursday morning. ladies and gentlemen, i am recounting all this to reiterate three points : first, that printing our currency is a very complicated, highly security - conscious and sophisticated technical task, requiring long lead times, involving various agencies and groups, and a lot of tedious processes. secondly, this is necessary to ensure not only a high quality product, but more so, a high level of security finished note. and thirdly, it is to assure the public that contrary to rumours floating in honiara, the delivery of the new $ 100 bank note has nothing to do with the expectations by members of the cult group, the family charity fund, of their millions of dollars. our stocks of currency are real bank notes and they do not belong to fcf as has been claimed. i assure you, the notes are safe and secure in the central bank vault. ladies and gentlemen, given recent counterfeiting incidences of the $ 50

to teach our young people to understand these saving habits is critical. and third word in the theme is “ earn ”. this word focuses on livelihood skills, business training and job training. it emphasises that we can start to help our children to learn what is required to work towards education to achieve a career they dream to have ; educate our children to start good business practices of how to own their own businesses, which includes going into agriculture productions, buying and selling of farm products, owning a retail shop or a transport business or involved in service industry as legal advisers, accountants or as medical practitioners or information technology or engineering. earning an income has many sources. [ ( optional and can be left out ) let me tell you a story about a 10 - year boy who lives in a village called zutapate in dovele, vella la vella. this is a true story that our deputy governor learnt while he was having his holiday there recently. let us call him johnny. johnny ’ s parents are just ordinary villagers and like village parents they work hard to earn income by providing transportation to people who want to come gizo or sell fresh fish to villages around them. johnny however saw an opportunity and takes advantage of his parents coming to gizo ; he decided to ask his parents to buy a carton of noodles, cans of soltuna, boxes of matches and lollies to sell to his friends or people in his village. since coming to gizo is expensive for the villagers, they buy the goods from johnny ’ s little canteen. johnny saves his earning and continue to recycle his cash flow until he has accumulated enough money to pay for his own school fees this year. and as i understand, he is still in business to raise money for his school fee next year. i like this story because it is the children like johnny who can develop the savings habits and entrepreneurial habits earlier in their lives that we want to see as future economic citizens of our country. ] so our global money week theme “ learn, save and earn ” emphasises the need to help our children and youth to learn about money, how to save and how to earn money either as professional employees or as business owners. i am sure you will learn more about this when you participate and go around the stalls this morning. thirdly, the particular focus of this global money week is to bring attention to everyone that a credit union is one of the powerful institutions that can help our children and youth to learn financial