AMMAN, 12 October 2004 — Prince Talal ibn Abdul Aziz, president of the Arab Gulf Program for United Nations Development Organizations (AGFUND), yesterday announced an initiative for setting up an Arab-African microcredit fund and called on Arab leaders to include poverty alleviation as a priority item on the agenda of their future summits.

Addressing the opening session of the Middle East/Africa Region Microcredit Summit Meeting of Councils, Prince Talal said that such a fund was necessary for “deepening the culture of lending instead of temporary aid” as a means for helping the poor in the Arab world and Africa.

He said that economic reform was a pre-requisite for political reform. “People at the lowest social strata can contribute in a better manner to the political life if they have the opportunity to improve their living conditions by themselves,” he said.

Prince Talal reported progress in the application of the AGFUND-sponsored Poor Banks project in the Arab world, particularly in Jordan and Yemen.

The three-day summit was opened by Queen Rania, who asserted that “microfinance should not be viewed as a reward or privilege, but as a right to be enjoyed by all members of society”.

“Microcredit is not only humble amounts of money financing small projects, but a way to break all obstacles preventing the creativity of humanity,” she said.

The conference, which is attended by more than 650 participants from 75 countries, seeks to find solutions to give the poor in the region more access to financial resources to alleviate poverty.

The gathering is sponsored by AGFUND, the Jordanian Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation and the Microcredit Summit Campaign in Washington, DC.

It brings together leading microcredit practitioners, government officials, NGOs, corporations and foundations to promote best practices in the field, learn from each other and work toward millennium development goals of cutting absolute poverty in half by 2015, organizers said.

Held in preparation for the UN International Year of Microcredit in 2005, the summit seeks to fulfill the international community’s pledge to provide access to microcredit for 100 million families across the globe by the end 2005.

Meanwhile, Prince Talal was received by King Abdallah and Queen Rania at a working lunch. The monarch commened the role being played by Prince Talal and AGFUND in supporting the family and childhood programs in Jordan and enhancing the education opportunities for Jordanian women.