“It gives me great pleasure to welcome senior finance officials to the 2009 Commonwealth Ministers of Finance Meeting, here in Cyprus.
Every year the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting brings together almost one third of the world’s Finance Ministers in a forum to discuss matters of common interest, exchange experiences and learn from each other; the ultimate objective being to contribute towards improving the wellbeing of the Commonwealth’s 1.8 billion inhabitants.
I welcome the publication of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Reference Report, which is the official publication of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting. I believe that the Report can play an important role as a central source of information for the Finance Ministers and their officials regarding macro and micro – financial issues that affect the Commonwealth nations.
I have no doubt that the publication, for the compilation of which the editors spared no effort, will be of great value to the Ministers and support them in decisions they make regarding development policy, project initiation and daily management of their Ministries.
I wish to express my warmest congratulations and appreciation to the editors for their effort.”
Charilaos Stavrakis, Finance Minister of the Republic of Cyprus