More than 300 entrepreneurs, microfinance experts, as well as representatives of region’s governmental and financial institutions, international and donor organizations, business associations, foreign embassies, and business support organizations participated in the conference.

The Central Asian microfinance conference is conducted annually in a different country each time. The Conference focused around the key issues of the Central Asian microfinance sector and the ways to solve them, future plans, new technologies, and exchange of experience among the participating countries.

During the two-day conference the participants discussed government’s support for the Kazakhstan microfinance sector, microfinance development perspectives in the international markets and Central Asia, local and international experience with credit unions, Achievements and further plans for the Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, and Uzbek associations of microfinance organizations, Kazakhstan’s experience in agricultural lending– joint microfinance project by the World Bank and the Ministry of Agriculture, new products and technologies - leasing, insurance, mobile banking, and credit cards and increasing the people’s credit culture through the cooperation of microfinance institutions and credit bureaus.

Participants also discussed the social mission of the microfinance institutions and the commercial financing by the government and the private business, and participated in the Investors’ Fair. The delegates will develop a set of recommendations for the development of non-banking microfinance sector and forward them to the participating country governments.

The Central Asian Microfinance Alliance (CAMFA) project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by international ACDI/VOCA Corporation. The project works to broaden the access of small and medium-size businesses, especially in the rural and remote locations, to a wide range of financial services in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. CAMFA is one of the many assistance projects implemented in Central Asia by USAID on behalf of the American people. Since 1992 the American people through USAID have provided over US$1.5 billion in assistance programs that support economic growth, democratic institutions, health care, and education systems in Central Asia.