The Bank, in collaboration with the Partnership for Making Finance Work for Africa, will be hosting in Tunis a Donor Workshop on the 30 - 31 March 2009. The workshop will have four key objectives:

To review, discuss and enhance the draft studies on bond market development in African countries,

To identify possible areas of cooperation among donors on ongoing and future bond market development initiatives,

To introduce the multi-disciplinary working groups as per priority areas identified in the mapping study, assess donor interest and discuss possible guidelines for their creation. The multi-disciplinary working groups will serve as (i) channels of support, (ii) platforms of knowledge sharing and (iii) will present the interests of African countries on issues related to the development of bond markets. The working groups will be driven and owned by regional member countries, with support from donors and multi-lateral development banks (MDBs),

To agree on focus areas, critical to the development of domestic bond markets, and which will form part of the discussions at the AfDB Annual Meetings in May 2009. The expected outcomes of the workshop are:

To produce a revised report on bond market development and highlight areas for further research,

To agree on a possible roadmap for collaboration and cooperation. The discussions will provide a framework as a starting point for collaboration and cooperation and coordination amongst donors on bond market development,

Areas of intervention by donors or interested parties according to the priority areas identified in the mapping study, which will form a basis for the multi-disciplinary working group,

Contribution to the agenda of the capital markets event at the AfDB Annual Meetings. The agenda will (i) initiate a forum of discussion on market development in Africa and (ii) facilitate the introduction of the multi-disciplinary working groups to member countries.

The workshop is organised by the AFMI under the auspices of the African Development Bank, in collaboration with the Partnership for Making Finance Work for Africa. The workshop will target donors, MDBs and development agencies with a vested interest in the development of bond markets in Africa, and will include African Development Bank staff from Regional Integration and Trade Department (ONRI), Governance, Economic and Financial Management Department (OSGE), Private Sector Development (OPSM) and the Regional and Country Departments.

There will be simultaneous interpretation services available in both English and French.

For more information, please contact:

Miss Nontle Kabanyane, Coordinator for the African Financial Markets Initiative at +216 71 10 23 96 / n.kabanyane@afdb.org, and

Mrs Jennifer Moyo, Consultant for the Partnership for Making Finance Work for Africa at +216 71 10 35 80 / j.moyo@afdb.org