Mr Thomas Baunsgaard, Guest of Honour and Outgoing IMF Resident Representative
Hon. Goodall Gondwe, Minister of Finance, MP
Hon. Kadammanja, Deputy Minister of Finance, MP
Members of Donor Community
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

Good evening.

I am pleased to preside over this dinner as we bid farewell to Mr Thomas Baunsgaard.  Thomas will be leaving Malawi shortly for the United States of America after serving as the IMF Resident Representative for three years.  The Reserve Bank of Malawi and colleagues, Treasury and Economic Planning & Development are sad to see Thomas leave after serving Malawi in such a distinguished manner.  Together, we have achieved a lot for Malawi and thanks to Thomas for his advice and guidance on key policy issues affecting our programme with the IMF i.e. the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility Programme.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Baunsgaard came to Malawi in August 2004.  He has since discharged his duties selflessly and diligently.  He has been a team player and quite instrumental in advising and guiding our operations on both monetary and fiscal matters.  We worked together with him and attained the HIPC Completion Point in August 2006 that led to foreign debt cancellation following successful implementation of the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility Program.  As a result of these achievements, the Reserve Bank of Malawi can today accumulate foreign exchange reserves, bring down inflation and support strong growth in the economy.
 
Mr Baunsgaard, it is our hope that your working life in Malawi will be beneficial not only to yourself but to all those you will work with in your subsequent posting.  Please make it a point to visit Malawi again, perhaps not as resident representative, but as a tourist and colleague.  You have seen how the tourism industry has evolved during the three years you have been in Malawi.  I am sure you will be pleased to come back just to visit those sites in a different capacity.

As a token of our appreciation for a job well done in Malawi, the Bank has prepared a gift for you and your family which we hope will remind you of Malawi.  May I present this gift to you now. 

With these few remarks, I wish you a safe journey back to Washington D. C.

May God bless you and your family.

I thank you all for your attention.