DUSHANBE, September 20, Asia-Plus — The fifth annual regional conference formally titled “Microfinancing in Central Asia: Path to the Future” opened at the Kokhi Vahdat State Complex in Dushanbe today morning, at 10:00 a.m.  .  

The two-day conference that has brought together representatives of more than 20 microfinance organizations from Central Asia’s states is aiming to consider tendencies and prospects of development of microfinancing in the Central Asian countries. 

Tolib Ghairatov, the head of the Association of Microfinance Organizations of Tajikistan, said that the conference participants are familiarizing themselves with instances of transformation, social influence, capital financing, regulation of currency risks, and sharing experience in creation of mechanism of protection of borrowers.    

Microfinance is about more than offering small loans to the poor. We see microfinance as a financially self-sustaining model for empowering the world''s poorest people. Microloans enable poor people to leverage their skills toward their own profitable businesses and lift themselves out of poverty.  

Senior representatives of microfinance organizations from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are attending the conference.  Besides, representatives from the European Union, the United States, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Russian Federation have been invited to take part at the conference.  

Fair of investors and exhibition of works by microfinance organizations is being held on sidelines of the conference.  Donors are represented by 14 organizations such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Planet Finance, Oiko Credit and others.  

Besides, a seminar on the social impact management issues for representatives from microfinance institutions was conducted on September 19.  The seminar discussed mechanisms of assessments of impact of loans on living conditions of the population.  The seminar was conducted by specialists from the Microfinance Center for Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS Countries.  

According to Tajik central bank, 8 credit societies, 6 microfinance deposit organizations, 23 microloaning organizations and 36 microloaning funds now function in Tajikistan.