The Asia Conference on Micro-finance and Women's Development
opened on Thursday in Beijing, with a focus on micro-finance and
women, and the sustainable development of micro-finance.
More than 120 delegates from 10 countries are attending the
conference.
This three-day conference is one of the activities organized by
the United Nations to commemorate International Year of the
Micro-credit. The micro-credit program was set up by the UN in the
name of global poverty alleviation, and as one of the ways to
realize the Millennium Development Goal.
The conference aims to strengthen communication and cooperation
between Asia's developing countries through experience and case
study exchange, the establishment of a cooperation network, and to
promote the sustainable development of micro-finance.
Gao Hucheng, vice minister of commerce, said at the opening
ceremony that since 1978, the number of poor people in China has
fallen from 250 million to 26.1 million. He added that
micro-finance is a good way to encourage and support the earning
potential of the poor, especially women. Gao said that this gives
them the ability to improve their economic and social status
without welfare handouts.
Khalid Malik, first representative of the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) China Office, said that micro-finance
has helped millions of poor people around the world.
According to Anthony Hodges, project officer of the United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), micro-finance is a less costly
way of alleviating poverty. Further, it gives the poor access to
clean water, and it helps put children back in school.
Also addressing the conference was Zhen Yan, secretariat of the
All-China Women's Federation. She said that women are generally
more responsible than men, and are more likely to return anything
that they've borrowed. Moreover, women like to get involved,
especially in relation to improving living conditions for the
family.
But Zhen stressed that micro-financing in China needs more
policy support, funding and special projects. Operations also need
improvement.
(China.org.cn by Xu Lin November 25, 2005)
