By Mbatjiua Ngavirue WINDHOEK The Governor of the Bank Namibia, Tom Alweendo, was elected chairperson of the Association of African Central Banks at the end of its 30th annual assembly held in Windhoek last week. The election of Alweendo as chairperson for 2006/2007 was announced in a communiquÃÆ’Æ‘Æ‘ÃÆ”šÃ‚© at the end of the weeklong gathering. He takes over the reins from the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Paul A. Acquah. The assembly, held at the Windhoek Country Club Resort and Casino, was attended by a large group of governors, representing virtually every central bank on the African continent. This year’s assembly was preceded by a symposium on “Domestic Capital Markets and Mobilisation of Resources for Growth and Poverty Reduction”. The symposium highlighted the need for African countries to either singularly or jointly develop viable bond and equity markets to harness potentially cheap medium to long-term financial resources. “This is necessary for financing the critical public and private investments in essential services to improve the living standards of the African people,” the communiquÃÆ’Æ‘Æ‘ÃÆ”šÃ‚© said. The governors noted with satisfaction the progress made by all the sub-regions in the implementation of the African Monetary Cooperation Programme (AMCP). They commended member states, particularly the oil importing countries, for their prudent economic policies that enabled their economies to remain resilient in the midst of high and volatile crude oil prices. The central bank governors urged member countries to sustain the implementation of sound policies towards the achievement of macro-economic convergence. They also decided that the report of the AMCP should be put in the public domain. This would allow the people of Africa to appreciate the significant progress being made on the economic front by member countries in spite of the difficult external environment.