The CEOs Forum for SADC DFIs was held in the picturesque tourist town of Kasane in Northern Botswana, on the border with Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe. 

The Forum focused on the theme ‘Development Finance – Lessons from Asia in which speakers elucidated the role that Development Finance Institutions had played in the development processes of some of the Asian countries, the experiences of networking amongst Asian DFIs and the support extended to the Asian DFIs by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The workshop was opened on behalf of the Botswana DFIs by Mr Reginald Motswaiso, the Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana Housing Corporation, who urged assembled CEOs to draw lessons from the experiences of successful industrial economies like Japan, which had used its development finance policy and institutions to catalyse its development processes.

Mr Stuart Kufeni, the CEO of the DFRC presented the first in which he outlined his experiences of a study tour that JICA had sponsored to Japan and The Philippines. He recognised the role of PPPs and capital markets, and the high level of participation of banks and the private sector, in infrastructure development, and the significance of a good policy and regulatory environment. He also pointed out that networking amongst the DFIs was vital in promoting regional cooperation, and advocacy of best practices amongst the DFIs. He urged greater engagement with the Association of Development Finance Institutions in Asia and the Pacific to promote information sharing and building capacity.

The Secretary General of ADFIAP, Mr Octavio Peralta, made a presentation in which he outlined the role of AFIAP as a capacity builder, resource provider, advocate and innovator to the DFIs in the region. He also reported that over the years the ADFIAP had diversified its income streams through training, consultancy, grants and subscription to ensure sustainability.

The Economic and industrial experiences of Japan, especially in the post-war period was presented by Mr Tsutomu Shibata, Chief Consultant at the Japan Economic Research Institute in Tokyo, Japan, in which he outlined the role that DFIs had played in Japan’s economic success. He indicated the key elements of success in the contribution of the financial sector was in independence of the DFI management, respect for the market economy, close relationship with government plans as well as targeting of finance to export and import opportunities for the Japanese economies.

In prefacing the discussion on JICAs technical cooperation programme, Mr Toshiyuki Nakamura, JICA’s Chief Representative in South Africa, pointed out that JICA was the world’s largest bilateral donor. He said that the Japanese government’s overseas development assistance was previously focused on Asia, but was now increasingly prioritising Africa through the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).  Africa was now the top recipient of Japanese ODA.  He also advised that JICA was ready to work with SADC DFIs based on its past experience with Asian DFIs.

Dr Tetsuya Fukunaga, TICAD Advisor at the DBSA from JICA, discussed JICAs experience with supporting DFIs in Asian countries, by elaborating on the technical cooperation in Vietnam and Mongolia. He also proposed technical assistance programme in which a Japanese experts would be assigned to undertake diagnostic studies of selected SADC DFIs, involved in infrastructure development, with a view to developing training and other interventions which would assist these institutions. He also advised of the availability of financial resources from the Japanese government which could be accessed through bilateral arrangements between the Japanese government and respective SADC governments.

In conclusion, the workshop recognised that DFIs have an important role in the development process. For this to happen, it was necessary for each institution to develop a strategy to ensure independence, integrity and viability trough a professional approach to the management of projects and the overall governance of the institution. The workshop was closed by Mr Vinson Hailulu, Board Chair of the DFRC, and CEO of the National Housing Corporation in Namibia.