NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, July 28, 2014

The Microcredit Summit Campaign announced today that President Enrique Peña Nieto is expected to join the delegates of the 17th Microcredit Summit on September 3, 2014, in Merida, Mexico. He will join Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus and innovative leaders from around the world like those from BRAC in Bangladesh and Child and Youth Finance International in the Netherlands in a dialogue about the “next generation” of microfinance.

Upon his election, President Peña Nieto committed to help bolster the economic growth, employment, and productivity of Mexico with the “Pacto por México.” This pact promises to strengthen development banking to extend credit to small and medium-sized enterprises and to strengthen the innovation, patenting, and infrastructure of development banking. The pact also commits to change the legal framework of commercial banks and credit institutions to provide more financial services and reduce the cost. This is an important principle in the framework required for achieving full financial inclusion by 2020 and ending extreme poverty by 2030.

The agenda of the 17th Microcredit Summit is inspired by these goals and guided by the theme “Generation Next: Innovations in Microfinance.” The program will feature the next generation of microfinance innovations in workshops like “Bringing e-payments solutions to microentrepreneurs” organized by MasterCard Corporation, “Financial Services and Aging” organized by the Center for Financial Inclusion, and “Microfinance and Microfranchising” organized by the Multilateral Investment Fund (FOMIN).

President Peña Nieto’s administration is working on policies that contribute to the eradication of hunger and extreme poverty, prevent child deaths from preventable diseases, and assure that women have the same opportunities as men. As part of the Summit in Mexico, the Microcredit Summit Campaign is also organizing a field visit for policymakers from various government ministries across Africa to experience some of the most innovative social protection programs being implemented around the world, including Mexico’s conditional cash transfer program, Oportunidades. These policymakers will learn from program officials and beneficiaries in Ethiopia and Mexico and then join the delegates in Merida for the 17th Microcredit Summit.