*  *  *  In the past year in this region of Africa we have been the innocent bystanders in the maelstrom following a major upheaval in the western economic system. I said innocent bystanders, but it is perhaps more appropriate to say intelligent bystanders in the face of this western debacle.
International coordination has also been advanced with the creation of the Financial Stability Forum, an initiative of the G 7 that draws on the Secretariat of the Bank for International Settlements. And the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision that evolved out of initial explorations of the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England has broadened international bank supervisory coordination.