Developing country debt managers and senior officials from international financial institutions will be meeting in Geneva next week, under UNCTAD auspices, to seek solutions to new challenges that have arisen in the wake of financial crises and their impact on institutional mechanisms for debt management.
The main event will be the second Interregional Debt Management Conference, from 3 to 5 April. (The first such Conference was organized by UNCTAD in Geneva in 1997.) The Conference will be followed on 6 April by the first General Assembly of the World Association of Debt Management Offices (WADMO). On 7 April a workshop will take place to present the most recent debt analysis model developed by the World Bank and the most up-to-date debt management software created by UNCTAD.
Debt Management Conference
The Conference is expected to bring together some 200 debt managers from more than 80 countries and senior representatives of international and regional institutions (including the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, ASEAN Secretariat, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Bank).
On the opening day, participants will discuss the role of the debt management function in today’s economic environment with a focus on the management and the prevention of crises. On 4 April they will seek to identify the benefits that can be derived from the application of sophisticated risk management tools; analyse the impact of the Euro on debt and risk management; and address the issue of a country’s debt capacity. On 5 April the Conference will examine computerized financial management systems, with presentations by Fairfax County (Virginia, United States) and Argentina.
World Association of Debt Management Offices (WADMO)
The Conference will be followed, on 6 April, by the first General Assembly of the World Association of Debt Management Offices (WADMO). WADMO has been set up with the support of UNCTAD in response to the need for debt management professionals to have a forum to discuss technical matters of common interest. The association is open to all member States of the United Nations. The first meeting will be devoted mainly to a discussion of the statutes and the role of the association.
Workshop on a new debt sustainability analysis tool
UNCTAD is also organizing a workshop on 7 April to inform debt managers about a cooperation programme on debt management involving the World Bank, the Commonwealth Secretariat and UNCTAD. The highlight will be a demonstration of a specialized software for debt analysis developed by the World Bank (the Debt Sustainability Model-Plus, DSM+), for which an interface has been built into the most recent version of UNCTAD´s software for debt management (DMFAS 5.2). The latter was released in Bangkok (Thailand) on the occasion of UNCTAD X, in February.
UNCTAD´s ASSISTANCE IN DEBT MANAGEMENT
UNCTAD has been providing practical assistance to developing countries and economies in transition in the management of their official debts since 1982 through its Debt Management and Financial Analysis System Programme (DMFAS). DMFAS is designed to strengthen the technical capacity of developing countries to record and monitor their external debt. The core is a computerized system, which has been installed so far in the Central Bank and/or Ministry of Finance in more than 50 countries (see below). Such assistance has been made possible with the financial support of UNDP and donor countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland).
