Prince Talal received the Executive Director of the micro-credit Summit Campaign

LarryReid:Agfund’s microfinance banks ” signs featured anti-poverty in the region” His Royal Highness Prince Talal Bin Abdulaziz,  President of the Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND) has received at his office in Riyadh, the Executive Director of micro-credit Summit Campaign, Mr. Larry Reid, who thanked HRH for his initiative to establish banks for the poor in the region, describing the initiative as ” the signs featured anti-poverty in the Middle East and North Africa(MENA) “.He also thanked Prince Talal for his continuous support to the microcredit campaign during World summits organized by the campaign . Larry Reid has visited AGFUND on Saturday and Sunday 18, May 19, 2013 and  held a meeting with the Executive Director of the Arab Gulf Programme for Development, Nasser Bakr al-Kahtani. Larry and al-Kahtani searched new partnership frameworks between AGFUND and the micro-credit Summit Campaign so as to enhance development strategy and fighting poverty, and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The two Organizations discussed the proposed qualitative support to be provided by AGFUND to the Conference of the Microcredit Summit to be held in Manila, Philippines during October 2013 under the title “international coalition against poverty,” focusing on the access of the poor to financial services and strengthen the movement prudent in lending institutions and civil society working in this area. It is worth mentioning that the micro-credit summit is an international alliance initiated by (global microcredit campaign) in 1997, and the first conference was held in the same year in Washington, with partnership of AGFUND. AGFUND and the campaign has collaborated in establishing the Regional Conference of microcredit in the Middle East and North Africa in Amman, Jordan2004, which was inaugurated by Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz, and Queen Rania Al-Abdullah. It was the most successful conference that specializes in micro-credit at the level of the Arab countries, and was attended by more than 800 participants . The Executive Director of microcredit Summit Campaign, also met with AGFUND’s staff and the technical supervisors for the banks for the poor. During the meeting, a presentation on AGFUND development history, focused on orientations in the poverty fighting and AGFUND strategy in the application of the mechanism of microfinance, as well as the definition of the 8 microfinance banks which was founded in partnership with the private sector , in Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria , Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Palestine . Over the phone from Yemen the Executive Director of the Al-amal Bank for microcredit, Muhammad Lai, briefed the meeting on the path of Al-amal bank and its successes in the application of micro-finance, product development, training, and the growing number of clients, as well as plans for the Bank’s future expansion in rural areas of Yemen. At the meeting, Larry Reid answered questions and inquiries of AGFUND staff; he also gave examples of experiments Microcredit Summit with the poverty fighting. Larry Reid welcomed developing cooperation with AGFUND, and learning more about AGFUBD’s banks for the poor, through field visits, he also expressed welcome to open a window for Promoting AGFUND Prize at the summit world, especially with the trend to link the Prize subject with microfinance and poverty reduction. AGFUND has allocated theme of this year’s award for “combat the phenomenon of street children.” It is scheduled that AGFUND will participate in the Conference of the Microcredit Summit to be held in Manila, and will offer paper on the “Banks for the poor and social business,” besides,a case study on Al-amal Bank in Yemen, and the possibility of deduction from its featured experience in implementation of the initiative of Prince Talal bin Abdulaziz, to establish a bank for the poor in the Philippines.