The African Development Bank (AfDB) on May 10, 2013 concluded a one-week, pan-African training workshop for African regulators of derivatives and commodities exchanges. The training workshop was held in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.

At the opening ceremony, Job Essis N'Guessan, the representative of the Ivoirian Minister of Commerce, stressed the importance of commodities and derivatives markets, especially after the global food crisis of 2007 and the global financial crisis of 2008.

He stated that as the environment in Africa is becoming increasingly conducive to investment, there is need to make sure that investor interest translates to an improvement in Africa's ability to develop itself.

The workshop provided participants representing 30 African countries with strategic and technical skills to assist African securities and capital markets authorities develop legal and regulatory frameworks for derivatives and commodities exchanges.

On behalf of the Official Representation of the AfDB's Headquarters in Côte d'Ivoire (ROSA), Chief Country Program Officer Sidi Drissi described the training session as being in support of the African Union's 2005 Arusha Plan of Action and Declaration on African Commodities. The Plan of Action and Declaration highlight the importance of efficient financial and commodity markets as a prerequisite for equitable, inclusive and sustainable development.

"Having well-trained regulators are important for the proper functioning of markets," he declared.

For participants from Kenya, this training comes at a particularly opportune moment, as the country is poised to license a Futures and Derivatives Exchange by August 2013.

"The training exposed us to other aspects of futures and derivatives regulation that we will be grappling with once the CMA has licensed the successful applicants for establishment of Futures Exchange, notably contract creation, licensing and monitoring of market intermediaries, clearing and settlement and market manipulation," said Luke Ombara, Acting Director of Regulatory Policy and Strategy at Kenya's Capital Markets Authority (CMA).

Keith Mukami of Bourse Africa Limited, another participant at the training workshop, described the sort of capacity building that the workshop provides as "the cornerstone to building sustainable and well regulated African commodity markets in the long term." He finds it very encouraging to "witness and participate in AfDB's efforts to building African commodity markets."

The training workshop, the first in a series of trainings on market regulations, was jointly organized by the African Development Institute and the NEPAD, Regional Integration and Trade Department, both of the AfDB.