be entirely new to you, but i firmly believe that they may be necessary for purposes of reinforcing what you already know. you are all therefore implored to take keen interest in all the topics if you are to realise the full benefit of the workshop. chairperson, there can be no true development in our bank without good and effective leadership. leadership is required for us to achieve our objectives. we live in a dynamic world which calls for good leadership dedicated to hardwork, daily learning, fast thinking and acting swiftly and prudently at all times. ladies and gentlemen, you will recall that not too long ago, we were all involved in the review of the bank ’ s strategic plan and came up with the 2009 – 2012 strategic plan. in order to fully implement the goals and objectives of our strategic plan we need to enhance our leadership skills. it is against this background that this workshop was organised. our desire is to constantly upgrade our leadership skills for the attainment of our goals and objectives even in the face of daunting challenges. in conclusion, i wish to urge you to actively participate and take a keen interest in the deliberations of this workshop. it is our expectation that you will have an opportunity to carry out an appraisal of your individual leadership style and refine it in order to impact positively on policy and the way the bank operates. with these few remarks, it is my pleasure to declare the workshop officially open and to wish you all fruitful deliberations. i thank you!

caleb m fundanga : relations between the embassy of france and the bank of zambia speech by dr caleb m fundanga, governor of the bank of zambia, at the signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding between the embassy of france and the bank of zambia, lusaka, 18 january 2005. * • • • • * * your excellency, the ambassador members of the press distinguished invited guests ladies and gentlemen it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the signing ceremony of the memorandum of understanding ( mou ), governing the conduct of french lessons, between the embassy of france and the bank of zambia. for some time now, our two institutions have been collaborating closely on the details of this mou to ensure that it captures the mutual interests and aspirations of our two institutions. although it has taken a bit of time to complete due to circumstances beyond our control, it is pleasing to note that we are now able to conclude it. your excellency let me begin by stating the reason for our existence as a central bank. our mission statement is to, i quote : “ formulate and implement monetary and supervisory policies that ensure price and financial system stability ” end of quote. in order for us to achieve this mission statement successfully, we need competent and skilled staff who are able to communicate effectively with a wide range of clientele at international, regional and national fora where the bank ’ s and, indeed, the nation ’ s interests are advanced. we note that whereas most of our colleagues from francophone countries are able to speak english fluently, our employees cannot even exchange a simple greeting in french without the aid of an interpreter. as you are well aware, your excellency, zambia has eight neighbouring countries amongst whom, at least, one is french speaking ; two are portuguese speaking and the rest are anglophone. as neighbours and countries falling under the same sub - regional and regional groupings, we collaborate a lot amongst ourselves on a number of regional cooperation agreements where inability to speak, read or write french or portuguese is sometimes a major communication barrier. for instance, in africa zambia belongs to three regional groupings, namely sadc, comesa and the african union ( au ). all these groupings include francophone member states, and, at times, our interests, as a nation, have not been well articulated to our francophone counterparts in these regional groupings due, in part, to our inability to communicate effectively in french. further, as i stated earlier, zambia