In collaboration with the Partnership for Making Finance Work for Africa, the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group will be hosting a donor workshop in Tunis, Tunisia, from March 30-31, 2009. The workshop has 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 channels of support, platforms for knowledge sharing and a representative of the continent's interests on issues relating to bond markets development.

The working groups will be driven and owned by the institution's regional member countries, with support from donors and multilateral development banks (MDBs),

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

producing a revised report on bond market development and highlighting areas for further research,

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

determining 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,

contributing to the agenda of capital markets event at the AfDB Annual Meetings. The agenda will:

initiate a forum of discussion on market development in Africa and

facilitate the introduction of the multi-disciplinary working groups to member countries.

The workshop is organized 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