Over 100 experts will discuss ways the debt management program can be of further benefit to both Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth countries

Debt Management experts from across the Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth countries will meet in London from 26-27 June 2008 to discuss how to improve the Commonwealth Secretariat's Debt Management Program and deliberate on contemporary issues in debt management.

The forum will look at the future design of the program, and identify way to assists countries to help make debt analysis a homegrown process.

The forum will also deliberate on the future development of the Commonwealth Secretariat Debt Recording and Management System (CS-DRMS), a software package that enables countries to record and analyze their external and domestic debt flows to the public and private.

Currently, 56 countries across the globe use the CS-DRMS - both within and outside the Commonwealth - for debt recording and analysis.

Debt management

The Commonwealth Secretariat has been providing debt management services to member countries since 1985.

Available in English and French, CS-DRMS is being successfully used to effectively manage public debt, on-lending by governments, private debt and external grants and to evaluate the impact of new borrowings in a scientific manner.

About 100 participants - leading debt management officers and CS-DRMS users - will attend the meeting, which will take place at Marlborough House in London.

Representatives from non-Commonwealth countries using the software, as well as collaborating partners from international agencies like the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and other regional organisations will also attend.

Gilpin Walton, Debt Management Adviser at the Commonwealth Secretariat, says the meeting is intended to deliberate on global debt management issues in order to improve the quality of debt management services provided to member countries.

"Over the past two decades, the contribution from our clientele has been invaluable in reshaping the form of our service delivery," he said.

"The increasing demand for our services is clearly on analytical issues of sovereign debt management with the recent trend of greater access to market borrowings by developing countries."