The Role of Finance in Rural Development: Experiences in Europe and Asia
On December 10th and 11th, approximately 80 participants from a score of European and Asian nations were brought together by the Chinese Ministry of Finance and the European Commission to discuss the role of finance in rural development.
As an initiative for the Seventh Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 7) held in Beijing on 24 and 25 October 2008, the conference took place at the Asia-Pacific Finance and Development Center in Shanghai and assembled specialists from IFIs, European and Asian governmental organizations and the private sector. Speakers and discussants covered topics ranging from nuts and bolts issues such as how mobile banking can reduce demand on rural banking infrastructure while improving farmer’s access to credit, to a macroeconomic view of finance in rural areas as it stands in Asia today. Also discussed were development models, the difference between rural and urban development and the need to avoid developmental inequality. Participants spoke with brutal honesty on the rural economy of their own countries and were pleased to take on the informed and insightful questions from the discussants and audience. The participants were also treated to a rare look at the experiences of a western bank operating in rural Asia.
The chairs of the conference, Chen Shixin, Deputy Director-General of Chinese Ministry of Finance, together with Servaas Deroos, European Commission's Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs, and Ronald Hall, European Commission's Director DG REGIO, adroitly assisted in realizing the conferences objective of exchanging European and Asian experiences in the area of finance as it relates to rural development.
