The Commonwealth Secretariat organized a ten days Training of Trainers on Using CS-DRMS v2 for Managing Debt (Loans & Securities) in London, United Kingdom. The training took place from 12 to 23 January 2015 following the release of CS-DRMS Version 2 in September 2014. The version is already installed in a few countries globally, including two MEFMI member states – Namibia and Mozambique.

The training was officially opened by Mr. Deodat Maharaj – Deputy Secretary General of the Commonwealth. In his opening statement, he commended COMSEC’s debt management division for continuous enhancement of CS-DRMS in line with developments in the financial markets. Mr Maharaj highlighted key global developments in public debt, and pointed out that some countries, including the Post HIPCs are already accumulating debt at an alarming rate; a development that would require the use of modern software in the active management of public debt, among other things. He urged participants to be champions in their institutions, regions and globally in sharing the skills learnt with other colleagues.  As a means of increasing the outreach, he pointed out that COMSEC will launch CS-DRMS e-learning courses starting in 2015.

Practical exercises and use of the system in managing diverse aspects of public debt were adequately covered. In all the areas covered, participants convened in groups to prepare and present practical case studies. The workshop was well resourced with all facilitators provided by  COMSEC’s debt management division. The resource persons shared their long and rich experiences in the area of debt database validation across countries they have supported.

The workshop drew 20 participants, mainly consultants, trainers and users of CS-DRMS, from all over the world. MEFMI was represented by Mr Lekinyi Mollel, Programme Officer in the Debt Management Programme.

Participation of MEFMI in the workshop was vital particularly at this time when the Institute is organizing a workshop on CS-DRMS v2 in March 2015 and member states are upgrading their systems to this new version.. The three representatives from the MEFMI region, including the MEFMI Programme Officer, will help in enhancing MEFMI’s effort to build sustainable capacity in debt database management in the region.