Organisers

Organisers

ABOUT AABSDP

The Association of African Banknotes and Security Documents Printers (AABSDP) - also known as the Association des Imprimeries Africaines de Billets de Banque et de Documents de Sécurité (AIABDS) - was created on 26 September 1991 in Abuja, Nigeria. Its main activity is the biennial conference, as well as the organisation of two technical committee meetings a year.

The Association comprises Africa’s eight banknote printers, based in Algeria, DR Congo, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan and Zimbabwe. In addition, it is supported by the central banks of ‘observer’ states that do not have their own state printing works, such as Ghana and Kenya, which regularly attend the Conference and technical meetings.

The presidency of the Association rotates every two years. The current President is Mr Fradreck Kunaka, General Manager of Fidelity Printers & Refiners, Zimbabwe.

The Association has a permanent secretariat in Morocco.

Reconnaissance is a security feature, printing, banknote and coin industry specialist, based in the UK, and it has been appointed by to run the African Currency Forum by the three hosts of the past three events – in 2014 in Cape Town, 2016 in Sharm el Sheikh and 2018 in Victoria Falls.

Reconnaissance owns and runs a number of conferences, including the three regional High Security Printing conferences, the Tax Stamp & Traceability Forum, Optical Document Security, Digital Document Security and The Holography Conference. Through a joint venture it also manages the Coin Conference as well as Currency News, Cash & Payment News, Mint News Quarterly and various currency directories and special reports. 

It also publishes monthly newsletters, reports and directories on identity documents, authentication features, holography and tax stamps.

In addition to publishing and conferences, Reconnaissance has a services division offering specialist consultancy, training and support for associations and third party events (which, in addition to the African Currency Forum, include the Future of Cash and the Mint Directors Conference).

Reconnaissance brings to the African Currency Forum® a unique knowledge and experience, acquired over the years in the currency and secure document industries.

“The banknote world is always facing great challenges because everything, technically speaking, is running so quickly. With such a conference, and its very rich programme, everyone has been given more sharp knowledge to deal with security and costs of banknotes.”
Central Bank of Madagascar