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)