DUSHANBE, September 20, Asia-Plus — The fifth annual regional conference formally titled “Microfinance in Central Asia: Road Ahead” opened at the Kokhi Vahdat State Complex in Dushanbe today morning, at 10:00 a.m.  .  

The two-day conference that has brought together representatives of more than 240 microfinance organizations from Central Asia’s states is aiming to consider tendencies and prospects of development of microfinancing in the Central Asian countries. 

The conference is organized and supported by the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Central Asian Microfinance Alliance (CAMFA) and the Association of Microfinance Organizations of Tajikistan (AMFOT). 

The CAMFA project is one of the many assistance projects made possible by the American people through USAID.  Since 1992, the American people have provided more than $1.5 billion in programs that support Central Asia’s health care sector, democratic institutions, education, and economic growth.

The AMFOT head Tolib Ghairatov said that this year, AMFOT took a lead in hosting this important event hoping that in the future other regional microfinance associations will continue the tradition.  

According to him, the conference participants are familiarizing themselves with instances of transformation, social influence, capital financing, regulation of currency risks, and sharing experience in creation of mechanism of protection of borrowers.    

Microfinance is about more than offering small loans to the poor. We see microfinance as a financially self-sustaining model for empowering the world''s poorest people. Microloans enable poor people to leverage their skills toward their own profitable businesses and lift themselves out of poverty.  

Senior   representatives of microfinance organizations from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are attending the conference. 

Donors are represented by 14 organizations such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Planet Finance, Oiko Credit and others.  Besides, representatives from the European Union, the United States, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Russian Federation have been invited to take part at the conference.  

In parallel, an exhibition of works by microfinance organizations has opened and a fair of investors is opening today afternoon

In parallel, a seminar on the social impact management issues for representatives from microfinance institutions will be conducted on September 21.  Specialists from the Microfinance Center for Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS Countries have been invited to conduct the seminar, which is aiming to discuss mechanisms of assessments of impact of loans on living conditions of the population. 

According to Tajik central bank, 8 credit societies, 6 microfinance deposit organizations, 23 microloaning organizations and 36 microloaning funds now function in Tajikistan.