As you are all no doubt aware, this year marks the centenary celebrations of former President Mandela’s birth. The SARB played its role in these celebrations by issuing a commemorative banknote series and a commemorative R5 circulation coin in Tata Madiba’s honour earlier this month. This was the first time in the SARB’s nearly 100-year history that commemorative banknotes were issued.
But no discussion of the challenges in the Asia-Pacific region would be complete without some coverage of such issues. Let me conclude by saying how fitting it is that the conference takes place in Sydney, one of the AsiaPacific's major financial centres.