Closing Remarks from the 27th Annual Confernce by ICGFM President, Manuel Pietra

          President’s Closing Remarks

The International Consortium on Governmental Financial Management

27^th International Training Conference

Miami, Florida

                    May 20 -May 24, 2013                    

SLIDE 1

     Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m sad to say that we have come to the end of the 27^th International Training Conference. But, as I mentioned to you in my opening remarks it doesn’t end here. We don’t stop. Each of you is making a difference and we hope that you will leverage the relationships that you have built and all that you’ve learned to support PFM reform and modernization in each of your countries. 

SLIDE 2

     We were very pleased to be able to provide you with a highly relevant and timely theme for the 2013 Training Conference. We can all certainly agree that we have been successful in meeting the objectives set out by the Program Committee and chaired by our Vice President of Programs, David Nummy.

   

  SLIDE 3
     Our thanks go to our excellent speakers and presenters who shared their invaluable experience.  They certainly added value to the conference themes and topics. We would also like to thank the moderators, the facilitators and of course you, as participants for your excellent participation and contributions in the sessions and the workshops. 

SLIDE 4

     With your support, the ICGFM continues to grow and play a vital and unique role in the Public Financial Management (PFM) community by working globally with governments, organizations and individuals to improve financial management so that governments may better serve their citizens.  It is amazing to me to look around the room and see some many people from so many countries. We have almost 40 countries represented here this week. And yet, we share many of same challenges and can learn from each other.      

SLIDE 5

     We observed very active participation and lively discussions during the formal working sessions and well after the end of the formalities. Your energy and enthusiasm were evident and in saying that we feel free to conclude that this conference was a very great success. 

SLIDE 6

     Remember to visit the ICGFM website at www.icgfm.org for information about ICGFM and how to be an active and engaged Member. You will find all the presentations from this conference, photos and valuable information from previous ICGFM events on the website.  Also visit us on LinkedIn, Twitter and the ICGFM Blog.  Information about upcoming conferences and our monthly forums hosted in Washington, DC are also available. 

SLIDE 7

     For those of you who are not from the United States, we continue to pursue efforts to bring these wonderful DC Forum presentations to you through Webinars so that you too can benefit from those experts. If you are ever in Washington when we are hosting one of our monthly forum sessions, which we always hold on the first Wednesday of each month, we would love to see you there.  Our next monthly forum meeting is in September. Our annual Winter conference is also in Washington in December.

SLIDE 8

     We would like to say special thank you to our sponsors – FreeBalance, Grant Thornton, Oracle, the Institute of Internal Auditors, Mosley and Associates, IBI International, to our Executive Director Pat Cornish, our Project Consultant Mari Robinette Deasel, our VP for Programs and Conference Chair David Nummy and his team.  Our success could not have been achieved without the invaluable assistance of our Conference Support Team including John Jensen and the interpretation team for their excellent work and patience, Crystal Tyler from the Grad School, the staff from Events & Office Consultants, James from Southern Audio visual and the team from the Marriott Hotel who worked diligently to make our stay enjoyable and assisted in creating a successful conference. And, of course, we must recognize our Managing Director, Pat Cornish and our Project Consultant Mari Robinette Deasel for making this week possible.

SLIDE 9

     It’s up to all of us to ensure that the ICGFM continues to grow. We ask for your support in strengthening our membership by speaking to your colleagues and peers to encourage them to get involved with ICGFM. Let’s see if we can break the 50 country mark at next year’s event! 

SLIDE 10

     In closing, I wish all of you safe travels back to your homes and I hope to see you at future ICGFM conferences and, of course back here next May for the 28^th Annual International Training Conference.

    Thanks again, gracias and merci.