International Seminar on Financial Inclusion for Central Asia, the Caucasus and South Asia held in Xinjiang
From July 12 to 14, the International Seminar on Financial Inclusion for Central Asia, the Caucasus and South Asia was held in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. The seminar was jointly organized by the Asia-Pacific Finance and Development Center, the Asian Development Bank Institute, APEC Business Advisory Council, Department of Finance of Xinjiang and supported by Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics. It was attended by nearly 70 delegates from China and other 13 countries in central Asia, the Caucasus and south Asia.
During the three days, delegates fully exchanged their insights and ideas and centered discussions around all aspects of financial inclusion, including recent trends in financial inclusion and microfinance in Asia, the role of microfinance in poverty alleviation, development of rural finance, key regulatory issues in promoting financial inclusion, evolutions of microfinance institutions towards financial sustainability, role of credit bureau in microfinance, Islamic microfinance and insurance. Delegates from China, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Georgia and Armenia also shared the cases of microfinance sector development in their respective countries at the seminar, which helped to facilitate knowledge sharing and capacity building on microfinance in the region.
On the China side, delegates from China Banking Regulatory Commission introduced to the participants the reform and development of rural finance as well as the legal and regulatory framework of microfinance in China. Following that, representatives of China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd and Bank of Hangzhou, two leading microfinance service providers in China, introduced to the audience the efforts and achievements their banks have made in expanding access to finance to unbanked population in recent years. Finally, one professor from Xinjiang University of Finance and Economics presented on the microfinance sector development in Xinjiang and in particular talked about several new types of microfinance institutions that are newly established in Xinjiang.
At the end of the seminar, delegates had a field trip to Wujiaqu National Village Bank – the first village bank established in Xinjiang in 2008 – to have more intuitive understandings of how microfinance businesses are operated and thrived in China.
