From 16 to 19 November 2022, a delegation of the International Union of Judicial Officers (UIHJ), composed by President Marc SCHMITZ and Vice-President Jean Didier BIDIE, took part in the 2nd edition of the International Forum of Legal and Accounting Professionals (FIPR OD), in Kigali, Rwanda, under the theme:
“Economic Development and Business Finance Challenges in Africa”.
This forum organized by the Regional Higher School of the Judiciary of OHADA (ERSUMA) had the general objective of bringing together legal and accounting professionals, as well as economic operators, business leaders and politicians to evolve the business financing system in Africa in order to propose suitable solutions and constitute real contributions to security and legal and economic development of the African continent.
Five workshops and two round tables were led by brilliant legal professionals and practitioners to allow legal professionals (Magistrates, Lawyers, Bailiffs, notaries) and accounting professionals (Statisticians, Accountants, Bankers) to discuss about:
Workshop n°1
State of play of corporate finance in Africa.
Workshop n°2
Financing in Africa: from monopoly to liberalisation of the mode of financing enterprises
Workshop n°3
Securing corporate finance in Africa
Workshop n°4
Adoption of techniques and means of financing African companies
Round table n°1:
The place of the State in capacity building of African companies seeking financing.
Round table n°2:
Capacity building for African companies seeking financing: the role of legal and accounting professionals.
Interesting and fruitful exchanges took place during these two round tables as indicated in the summary report of the forum.
The International Union of Judicial Officers, through its President Marc SCHMITZ, made a very remarkable intervention on the presentation of the Global Code of Enforcement and the Global Code of Digital Enforcement to the participants while demonstrating the unwavering link that exists between business investment and therefore economic development and the profession of judicial officer. Economic operators need legal certainty to invest in a country, in particular, they want to ensure that court decisions will be effectively enforced. The judicial officer is this emblematic figure who guarantees the efficiency of enforcement and therefore legal security in a country.
Several participants also approached the representatives of the UIHJ behind the scenes of the forum to understand digital enforcement and in particular the attachment of digital assets.
On the sidelines of this forum, the delegation of the UIHJ carried out an intense lobbying activity with the Supreme Court of Rwanda, the Embassy of Belgium to the Rwandan Republic and the board of the National Chamber of Judicial Officers of RWANDA.
Indeed, the delegation of the UIHJ took advantage of the audience granted to it by His Excellency, Mr. Bert VERSMESSEN, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium in Rwanda, to present the International Union and its missions within its one hundred members of ninety-six countries distributed in the five continents of the world.
With the President of the Supreme Court and President of the Constitutional Court of Rwanda, the exchanges focused on the objectives and missions of the UIHJ and the accession of the Rwandan Chamber to the International Union.
Finally, the visit of the delegation of the UIHJ to the headquarters of the Professional Bailiffs of Rwanda (Professional Bailiffs Association) allowed him not only to present our organization but also to discuss with the members of the board of this association with the aim of arousing their adhesion within the large family of the International Union.
The officials of the Professional Judicial Officers association of Rwanda were very receptive to the message and promised to continue internal discussions with a view to a very likely accession of their association to the UIHJ.
The photos opposite illustrate the different moments of the stay of the delegation of the UIHJ in Kigali.
