The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) hosted a training programme in cooperation with the COMESA Monetary Institute (CMI) on the challenges facing central banks in the COMESA in the field of control and supervision on Tuesday. This was done in implementation of presidential directives to support Egyptian-African cooperation and integration, and in continuation of the CBE's pioneering role in achieving banking integration among African central banks. Forty participants representing 12 of the 21 COMESA member central banks participated in the programme, in addition to the CMI delegation headed by Lucas Ngorugi — Director of the Institute. The events witnessed a discussion of the challenges facing central bank observers and how to assess these challenges and manage the risks resulting from them to protect banking sectors and financial stability. Naglaa Nazhi — Adviser to the Governor of the CBE for African Affairs — stressed the importance of the subject of the training programme, especially in light of the current global and regional changes, noting that the CBE is keen to continue its efforts to support capacity-building of workers in African central banks, especially since Egypt is currently chairing the COMESA Central Bank Governors Committee. For his part, Abdel Aziz Nosseir — Executive Director of the Egyptian Banking Institute — affirmed the institute's readiness as the training arm of the CBE to cooperate with all central banks in Africa to provide priority specialised training programmes for banking cadres in these banks. Furthermore, Ngorugi thanked the CBE for its continuous contribution to building the capabilities of the COMESA's central banks, pointing to the institute's aspiration for more cooperation with the CBE in the coming years. During the training programme, in which lecturers from the supervision and control sectors of the Central Bank of Egypt participated, the participants were divided into working groups to discuss issues and challenges and present possible solutions to overcome them as a practical training on how to address problems in the field of control and supervision. At the end of the programme, a set of proposals and recommendations were formulated that would strengthen the security and safety of banking, control, and supervision systems in the African continent in preparation for discussions at the level of central bank governors at their next annual meeting that be held in Cairo this November.
