UAE-based Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development has partnered with Arab Gulf Programme for Development (Agfund) to host a major microcredit summit in Abu Dhabi.

The event, organised in co-ordination with the Microcredit Summit Campaign, will see more than 700 participants representing more than 70 countries discuss key issues of the financial sector at the four-day event.

They will explore how new and effective financial policies can contribute to the success of the Universal Financial Access 2020 goal, the World Bank 2030 goals, and the UN Global Goals, said the organisers.

Sheikh Hamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the chairman of Crown Prince Court in Abu Dhabi and the board of trustees of Khalifa University, inaugurated the summit.

The opening ceremony was attended by the central banks managers from across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, as well as leaders and game changers in the field of microfinance.

The list of VIP guests at the event included Prince Abdulaziz bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Queen Sofia of Spain, Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansoori, Minister of Economy in the UAE, Prof Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank founder; Hussain J. Al Nowais, the chairman of Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development and Larry Reed, the director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign in the US.

In his opening address, Prince Abdulaziz said: "For the past two decades, the partnership between Agfund and Microcredit Campaign had been getting stronger over time. Ever since the first Microcredit Summit was held in 1997, both organisations have had mutual understanding on mechanisms of supporting microfinance as part of the global human development plan, and the current statistics reflect the success of this partnership."

"From that day onwards, Agfund started to set up banks specialised in implementing financial inclusion, which will eventually end the severe poverty. So far we have established banks in Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Sirloin, Lebanon, Sudan, Palestine and Mauritania," he stated.

According to him, about 2.8 million people have benefited from this project.

"Our broader strategy, values and policies here at Agfund, focus on equality between all communities, and providing the marginalised individuals keys to financial independence," stated Prince Abdulaziz.

"This is the reason why we believe that financial inclusion is a social and economic priority. Consequently, we ask all governments to apply this principle moving forward," he added.

Queen Sofia expressed delight at the partnership between the Agfund and the Microcredit Summit Campaign, which has resulted in this mega international conference.

"This is a considerable addition to the development domain especially the two organizations relentlessly endeavor to maximize microfinance impact and financial inclusion on broad sectors of beneficiaries, who are in real need for the services of microfinance banks and institutions," she observed.

In his address, Al Mansoori said: "2015 was the innovation year, as different governmental entities contributed with more than 100 innovative initiatives. The value of investments on innovative projects is worth $300 billion."

"This will surely position the UAE as one of the leading countries for innovation by 2021, which is in line with the overall strategy of innovation in the country," he added.

Al Nowais said the Khalifa Fund had launched four different microfinance projects, which were planned and developed to achieve three main objectives: maintaining Emirati traditional through small projects, ensuring financial independence and stability to individuals with low income and most importantly women empowerment.

"Today, eight years after the foundation of Khalifa Fund, we have managed to achieve the objectives of the fund through launching these small projects. It’s also important to note that 88 per cent of the microfinance projects supported by Khalifa Fund are managed by women," he added.

Dr Abdulrahman Al Hamidi, the director general and chairman of the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), emphasized the growing importance of promoting financial inclusion, and supporting the micro, small and medium business development which are one of the key areas for ensuring economic growth and job creation in the Arab region.

He pointed out at the lowest level of financial inclusion in the Arab world compared to all other regionsacross the globe. According to the World Bank data, there are 16 to 17 million small businesses in the Arab region which have no access to financing and official financial services.

These relatively low figures are related to high unemployment rate, particularly for youth, which is the highest among the regional groupings and stressed that, according to the Arab Monetary Fund, the youth unemployment rate (16-25 years) rises to about 28 per cent among the Arab countries in 2015, compared to 12.4 per cent across the world, and for women in the region this figure is much higher and reaches 43 per cent against 12.4 per cent worldwide.

Lauding the huge turnout, Reed said the summit had drawn 1,000 delegates from 60 countries, including 250 from the UAE and a delegation of over 100 from Bangladesh.

"I want to thank all of you for making the commitment of your time and resources to be with us. We come together to create a bazaar of ideas and examples, to learn from each other’s and gain confidence by sharing our own," he added.

The summit includes 19 plenary sessions that host a number of experts in micro finance and financial inclusion.-TradeArabia News Service