The Microcredit Summit Campaign and the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development today announced a strategic partnership for the 18th Microcredit Summit: Frontier Innovations in Financial Inclusion to be held in Abu Dhabi next month.

The 18th Microcredit Summit will gather global policy makers and microfinance experts to explore how microfinance and other innovative financial inclusion strategies can create clear pathways to economic and social inclusion and for the betterment of the lives of the most vulnerable segments of society. The four-day conference will run from March 14 to the 17 and is co-organized by the Microcredit Summit Campaign and the Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND).

The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) has signed up as a sponsor of the Summit. Both Khalifa Fund and AMF will enrich the Summit agenda with their experience in developing sustainable economic growth in the MENA region. Khalifa Fund's expertise includes creating technical and financial programs such as the Sougha Initiative, which aims to enhance entrepreneurial and technical skills of Emirati artisans from across the UAE in partnership with key support partners.

H.E. Abdullah Saeed Al Darmaki, CEO of Khalifa Fund, said, “Our partnership with the Microcredit Summit Campaign falls under our strategic objectives of benefiting from different international expertise, enhancing capabilities, and creating a suitable environment for innovation in the region and responding to the funding requirements for small and medium enterprises.”

“We work to strengthen the bonds of cooperation,” Al Darmaki continued, “to support a culture of entrepreneurship, innovation and sustainable growth, which makes the 18th Microcredit Summit a perfect platform to exchange knowledge, ideas, and experience and to promote financial inclusion.”

Al Darmaki also stressed on the fact that for the past eight years, Khalifa Fund has develop a number of microcredit programs such as “Khutwa” program, “Al Hasila,” and a funding program in Egypt in partnership with AMF.

AMF will contribute valuable insight on national financial inclusion strategies that create the appropriate policies and regulatory frameworks promoting financial inclusion and contributing to social inclusion. H.E. Dr. Abdulrahman A. Al-Hamidi, director general chairman of AMF, stressed that the Summit represents an excellent opportunity to shed light on this important topic to understand the dimensions of improving financial inclusion to address the challenges of unemployment in the Arab countries. He noted that it represents a key priority for AMF as part of its strategy for the coming years.

Registration for the Summit is open. To register and learn more about the Summit agenda, travel logistics, etc., please visit http://18microcreditsummit.org/" target="_blank">http://18microcreditsummit.org>

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