Statement made on Behalf of All Delegates

By
Ms Harriet Kiwanuka
Manager, Research and Market Development
Uganda Securities Exchange

Officials from UNECA
Officials from the Rand Merchant Bank
Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

On behalf of all the participants, I would like to take this opportunity to extend our appreciation to UNECA and the Rand Merchant Bank for organizing and sponsoring this successful workshop.

UNECA and RMB have made our stay in Sandton very comfortable and we wish to thank you for the hospitality you've extended to us during our 3-day stay in Sandton, South Africa.

Capital markets today play a vital role in the development of Africa's economies. Appreciation again goes to UNECA for including capital markets in its agenda for Africa's development.

This workshop has brought together participants from various countries, with different levels of development, unique market structures, experiences and challenges. We have benefited a lot from the experiences of these other markets in terms of knowledge and getting a better understanding of these markets.

I also wish to extend our appreciation to the individual presenters for the very enlightening presentations they've made throughout the course of this workshop.

Appreciation also goes to all participants for their contributions to all discussions and debates held, these contributions kept all sessions interesting and lively.

Over the past 3 days, some critical issues have clearly come out from the deliberations. These include:

- The role of public education;

- The role of government in capital market development;

- The importance of accurate economic data;

- Issues on governance;

- Financial sector deepening vs. fragmentation;

- Regulation vs. market development;

- Government role in debt market development;

- The importance of rating agencies, of investment banks;

I am sure that all participants would agree with me that this has indeed been a very productive workshop and that each one of us will have something new to carry back to his/her market.

Finally, I would like to end by reiterating on two points made by Mr. Paul Harris, Chairman of RMB, in his welcoming remarks: "Think big, start small, start now." I think there could be no better encouragement than this for the African markets.

Ladies and gentlemen, gathering from what has transpired from our deliberations over the past 3 days, it is quite clear that we all think big, have started small. Now is the time to get started.

Thank you.