Prince Talal calls the Arab countries to follow the United States in opening the door for microfinance and developing legislations for the banks for the poor

Noting the significant meanings in honoring of Muhammad Yunus by the US Congress Prince Talal calls the Arab countries to follow the United States in opening the door for microfinance and developing legislations for the banks for the poor Prince Talal Bin Abdul-Aziz, President of the Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND), urged the Arab countries to follow the United States in opening the door for Microfinance for fighting poverty. In this regard, Prince Talal noted the celebration to be held by the US congress on Wednesday 17 April, 2013 to honor Prof. Muhammad Yunus – leader of microfinance in the world and founder of the first bank for the poor. Prince Talal was invited to participate in the ceremony, but due to certain circumstances, he has assigned Prince Abdulaziz bin Talal , to participate in this ceremony on his behalf. Prince Talal also indicated that in spite of being a global economic power, the United States grants significant importance to microfinance which had proven to be extremely effective in fighting poverty and merging the poor in the economic processes. According to the congress statistics “There are now an estimated 24 million microenterprises in the United States that have accounted to approximately 18 percent of private employment. The Small Business Administration in the United States has made over $318,000,000 in microloans to entrepreneurs since 1992. Prince Talal has additionally clarified that the congress honoring of Muhammad Yunus has various significant meanings that he hopes to be fully apprehended by the developing countries. The American Congress has unanimously approved to award a congressional gold medal to Dr. Muhammad Yunus in recognition of his contributions to alleviating global poverty. A remarkable development celebration shall be held to award Yunus the highest American medal on the 17th of April, 2013 at Rotunda Hall in the Capitol Hill building, Washington DC. It is worth mentioning that Prof.Yunus is a strategic partner for (AGFUND) in establishing banks for the poor which they totaled (8) up to now, mainly in Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Sierra Leone, Lebanon, Sudan, and Palestine.