In June, Burkhard Balz, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, headed a delegation visiting the city of Windhoek in Namibia. The purpose of the visit was to formally extend the Bundesbank’s cooperation with the Bank of Namibia and to exchange experiences and perspectives on topics of common interest.

Johannes !Gawaxab, Governor of the Bank of Namibia, first highlighted the excellent cooperation between the two institutions, going on to stress the importance of cooperation in fulfilling the central bank’s own mandate. This strong bilateral relationship was essential, he emphasised, especially in addressing cross-regional challenges and finding joint solutions. Burkhard Balz reiterated the Bundesbank’s interest in the ten-year cooperation and its benefits for both partners, commenting that the renewed signing of the agreement would extend this fruitful cooperation into the future.

The MoU encompasses staff training, technical support, benchmarking exercises and staff exchanges in the various fields of central banking. Discussions with the Bank of Namibia also covered the modernisation of payment systems, digital transformation and innovation, macroeconomic research and modelling, digital currencies and monetary policy communication.

Text: Eugen Töws
Photo: Bank of Namibia