The new year began with a flurry of activities and stimulating meetings around the world. In mid January I was invited to Kommunalbanken in Oslo to inform the board on recent international developments in the field of local government pooled financing. Kommunalbanken published an interview (in Norwegian) with me in their magazine that can be read here.
I have also been back to Johannesburg to speak at the workshop Innovating in Financing for South African Cities, arranged by the City of Johannesburg and FMDV. My intervention was, of course, about pooled financing mechanisms. I had many warm encounters and great chances to further investigate the possibilities for financial cooperation between municipalities.
Discussions around the general theme of pooled financing and South Africa continued when I was invited for meetings with the World Bank and the IFC (International Finance Corporation) in Washington. I also did a lunch presentation to an audience from different parts of the World Bank Group.
Furthermore, I participated as one of the speakers in the World Bank organized creditworthiness academy in Bogotá, Colombia, now in the beginning of February.
In connection to this event I have translated some of my papers to Spanish. They can be downloaded here:
Financiación de las In
versiones del Gobierno Local – comprender el concepto de AFGL
Cooperación financiera entre autoridades locales en países en desarrollo
Lo que el mundo necesita ahora… es inversión en infraestructura local
Lars M Andersson
