CHAIRMAN OF SADC DFI NETWORK ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAUNCH OF NEW DFRC OFFICES, 9^TH JUNE 2016

Director of Ceremonies,

The Guest of Honour, the Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Honourable Ontefentse Kenneth Matambo

Honourable Ministers here present,

Your Excellencies, Heads of Diplomatic Missions and International Organisations,

Senior Staff of the SADC Secretariat,

Senior SADC Government Officials,                                                              

Chairperson of the SADC DFI Network, Mr Patrick Dlamini,

Chairperson of the DFRC Board of Trustees, Mrs Annie Vidot,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentleman,

Honorable Minister, Mr Matambo, it has been an honour and pleasure for the SADC DFI Community to welcome you to this important occasion in which we celebrate another milestone in the life of the Development Finance Resource Centre, and the Network of Development Finance Institutions in SADC. The procurement and acquisition of an office for the DFRC represents the consolidation of the institution, and a long term commitment to the regional agenda of development finance.

With the consolidation of our office infrastructure requirements, the DFRC can focus on delivering on its commitments of service to the DFI community and public stakeholders, while developing strong partnerships with the private sector.

Over the last ten years, the DFRC has enjoyed the support of the SADC governments and the DFIs, and has been able to expand membership from 18 in 2004 to 36 DFIs currently. In addition, the DFRC has a well-established capacity building programme in which staff of DFIs are exposed to and trained in key skills for development finance. These skills include risk management, investment appraisal, and corporate governance among others. While these programmes are primarily focused on DFIs, state-owned enterprises, government departments, and the private sector have also participated in these programmes.

As part of its mandate, the DFRC recently completed a study on the status of development finance institutions in the SADC region. The purpose of the study was to explore the policy and institutional landscape of the DFIs, and to make recommendations for future actions to ensure the relevance and impact of the DFIs on the national economies and the region. This study was completed and approved by the DFI Network in 2014, and endorsed by the Ministers of Finance in 2015.

This forms the basis for a wide range of interventions to assist the DFIs pursue their mandates, and contribute to regional economic integration and economic growth. This includes the setting of operational standards for the DFIs, and the development of relevant regulatory frameworks.

The SADC DFIs will also remain integrated in the Global and African community of DFIs to ensure compliance with best practices, and so deliver sound development projects which are viable and of acceptable international standard. The SADC DFI Network will therefore remain actively engaged with the work of the regional bodies such as the African Association of DFIs and the Asian and Pacific DFIs to promote exchange of experiences.

It is self-evident that the development finance agenda at national and regional level will remain and continue to play an important role in the overall economic development agenda. It is for this reason that the DFI Network and the DFRC are of the strongly held view that an element of permanence is necessary through the acquisition of infrastructure to support its work.

The decision to acquire the office we are launching to today is based on a sound strategic vision of the role of the DFI Network and the DFIs in the region, as well as good economics and finance, that reduces rather than increase the burden to member institutions in the long term.

We are looking forward to an expanded portfolio of activities in the future, based on enhanced cooperation and collaboration of our stakeholders. As government institutions mandated to promote development in our economies and in the region, your DFIs have embraced and will play a catalytic role in the implementation of the UN Strategic Development Goals (SDGs). To demonstrate our commitment, you will be pleased to know that this issue has been the subject of our CEOs Forum this morning. To assist with the implementation of SDGs the DFI Network intends to develop and adopt a monitoring and evaluation system.

With these few remarks, Honorable Minister, on behalf of the DFI Network and the DFRC, I would like to extend our sincere gratitude for finding time in your busy schedule to come and celebrate with us this important occasion.

I thank you.