Microfinance: Pakistani, Afghan officials stress need for cooperation

Sharing knowledge and skills will help end poverty, unemployment.

ISLAMABAD:

Microfinance officials from Pakistan and Afghanistan have stated that the two countries can benefit through developing and promoting financial infrastructures that supports microfinance by sharing knowledge and skills, according to a press statement. Khushhali Bank President Ghalib Nishtar, Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan Technical Support Director Bahram Barzin and Afghanistan Microfinance Association Executive Director Najibullah Samim among others attended the meeting.

The attending officials concluded that there was immense potential for both countries to benefit from wide and rapid promotion of microfinance services in their rural and urban areas to tackle poverty and unemployment.

Nishtar said that Pakistan has a business environment conducive to microfinance. He said that the Khushhali Bank had been working as a catalyst in stabilising Pakistan’s microfinance sector with the objective of retailing microfinance services on a sustainable basis. “Both Afghanistan and Pakistan can learn a lot from each other, and the cooperation and collaboration among microfinance institutions could help overcome our deep-seated socioeconomic challenges by providing access to sustainable financial services,” he said.

The Afghan officials belonged to APEX, the network and microfinance capacity building institution from Afghanistan. The representatives expressed keen interest in joint collaboration with the Pakistani microfinance sector.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2012.