The ninth meeting of the Committee of Central Bank Governors in SADC(CCBG) was held at Sun City, South Africa on 15 October 1999. The meeting was attended by Governors from thirteen of the fourteen member central banks as well as representatives from the Finance and Investment Sector Co-ordinating Unit (FISCU), the SADC Secretariat, the SADC Banking Association and the Committee of Stock Exchanges in SADC.Given the different languages spoken in the SADC region, Governors decided to develop mechanisms for capacity building for French and Portugese in order to facilitate participation by SADC members from the French and Portugese speaking countries. Governors discussed and agreed on expediting work towards convergence of payment, clearing and settlement systems in the region. The Governors also noted that significant progress had been made towards the improvement of national payment systems with the view to improving cross border payments as a contribution to economic integration. Central banking legislation of the respective member countries is also under review with the objective of identifying areas for further co-operation and convergence. The Committee was pleased that three of its members had abolished exchange controls and the remaining members had all liberalised their current accounts and are taking steps towards further liberalisation.The Governors received a report on the status of Y2K preparedness in SADC Central Banks. They noted the different stages of contingency planning and the process towards finalising those plans by each member state. This they considered to be major progress for the region in the light of the impending Y2K historic development. Within the context of the above, Governors decided that it is essential to ensure that training is consistently incorporated in the programmes of the CCBG. In this regard, it is anticipated that Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) will be developed once relevant subcommittees have completed their work towards the process of co-operation in the following areas, namely, payment, clearing and settlement system, exchange control, legal and operational framework for SADC central banks, prevention of money laundering and fraud, prudent banking supervision, and up to date information technology. Governors received a report from the Training and Development Forum Steering Committee and noted the progress made with the integration and harmonisation of central bank training and human resources development within the region. The meeting also approved that SADC-wide central bank training programmes should continue to be developed and coordinated by the central banks of South Africa and Tanzania.The Governors noted that significant progress has been made in establishing the website for SADC central banks on which economic and financial statistics, information on financial systems, policies, structures and markets in the region is published.Governors noted that the Eastern and Southern African Banking Supervisors Group (ESAF) endeavours to promote and strengthen the banking systems in member countries and in the region as a whole. By so doing, it will actively dispel unfounded assumptions held about the so-called weaknesses of the supervisory standards in SADC. ESAF also reported that it encouraged its member countries to comply with the Basel Committee Core Principles on Bank Supervision. Governors welcomed the progress in the interest of regional integration and encouraged ESAF to progress in its work.The meeting noted that the SADC Committee of Stock Exchanges has completed the process of harmonisation of listing requirements. The SADC Banking Association reported that position papers would be prepared on the development of financial systems and markets in Southern Africa, legislation against money laundering, crime, robberies and fraud.Governors also considered a proposal to revisit the structure of future meetings which proposes that the April meetings exclusively be utilised for reviewing progress on projects and other activities of the CCBG, and that the October meetin