Empower the Grassroots - Opening Remarks
|
Empower the Grassroots - Opening Remarks
|
|
C O N T E N T S Main Sections This Level Next Level Return to |
Empower the GrassrootsOpening Remarks by H.E. Goanpot AsvinvichitPresident & CEO, Government Savings BankPrime Minister Thaksin, Excellencies, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me now formally welcome you to the opening session of this international conference. With more than 350 delegates from 50 countries, we are truly an international community that demonstrates the powerful momentum of the microfinance concept. Our purpose here is to advance the cause of grassroots empowerment so that those living in poor communities and poor conditions might improve their lives. Today and tomorrow, we will discuss what role government can and should play in microfinance initiatives. We will look for proven solutions from NGOs and other stakeholders in many countries. The Thai government has given priority to microfinance as an effective way to expand opportunities, create higher income, reduce expenses and provide inclusive access to capital. Government Saving Bank, together with other agencies, has a mandate to implement programs that are socially and economically beneficial to grassroots communities. You will hear more details about specific programs tomorrow. Ladies and Gentlemen, We have four objectives over the next two days: · Firstly, we want to support and promote the role of microfinance as a critical policy tool for poverty reduction. · Secondly, we offer the Thai experience as a case study of successful and sustainable economic and social development. · Thirdly, we want to create a forum for the exchange of learning and best practices in the development and delivery of microfinance products and services. · Fourthly, we also want to make a contribution to the “International Year of Microcredit,” particularly the goal of international dialogue. Today and tomorrow, in the keynotes, panels and workshops, we will share our experiences, our observations and our questions. We will come up with new ideas and new innovations that will certainly help us to achieve our goals. Ladies and Gentlemen, Now it is my privilege and honor to introduce the Prime Minister, His Excellency Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra. Since his Government was inaugurated in 2001, the Prime Minister has initiated many highly effective anti-poverty programs in Thailand. Dr. Thaksin’s insight was that healthy grassroots communities are not only the key to eradicating poverty, but are also the key to a healthy Thai economy. He firmly believed that when grassroots communities prosper—when they are able to fulfill their hopes and potential—the domestic economy becomes more balanced, more resilient and more competitive. This successful strategy has attracted the attention of both developing and developed nations around the world. Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me in welcoming His Excellency Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra, the Prime Minister. Introductions by Khun Goanpot – Friday MorningLadies and Gentlemen, Good Morning, Today we will accelerate our process of learning from each other with 10 concurrent sessions. We begin the conversation with a keynote panel to give an overview of the state of microfinance and especially to raise issues about the question of “scale versus sustainability.” I had the privilege of meeting our next two speakers a few weeks ago in New York and it gives me great pleasure to introduce them both. Ms. Christina Barrineau has been the face of microfinance this year, as Chief Technical Advisor for the United Nations’ “International Year of Microcredit 2005.” Christina coordinated central bankers, universities, government officials, and private and public sector bankers and organized an international awareness campaign to focus attention on the role of financial systems in achieving the millennium development goals. Prior to the UN, Christina spent five years with Women’s World Banking, where she established and managed a global network for banking innovation in microfinance that spanned 22 financial institutions that collectively served more than 14 million poor and low-income clients. Before joining WWB, she spent ten years as an independent international advisor and established microfinance programs for financial institutions around the world. Meanwhile, Mr. Tom Easton has spent much of this year flying around the world, studying microfinance in many forms and many countries. The result was a major survey in the Economist magazine, published earlier this month and available on the magazine’s website. Tom joined the Economist in 2000 in New York as a senior correspondent and became New York Bureau Chief is 2003. He is now the chief financial correspondent in America and the primary writer on microfinance. Previously Tom was New York and Tokyo Bureau Chief and Associate Editor for the Baltimore Sun newspaper, and later a Senior Editor of Forbes magazine. He also was an associate professor at Columbia Journalism School. If Tom and Christina do their jobs well this morning, and I’m sure they will, you will leave this first session with more questions than answers. After this session and the coffee break, Tom and Christina have also agreed to join our concurrent sessions, so you may ask many more questions about their comments in the breakout rooms. Ladies and Gentlemen, First Christina, and then Tom…
Closing RemarksMr. Goanpot Asvinvichit, President and CEO, Government Savings Bank Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, Over the past two days, you have taken the issue of the grassroots economy and pushed it forward on the world stage. It may not be as glamorous as globalization. It may not be as popular as trade liberalization. But this issue is just as important and just as powerful and it demands our attention. I commend your courage. You have taken responsibility for a role that offers little recognition, but which is at the foundation of our economies and our societies. And you have done it with such great intensity that I must also commend and admire your passion. Ladies and Gentlemen We must recognize that although many steps have already been taken, the work of re-strengthening and revitalizing grassroots communities is far from over. Since the grassroots form the foundations of a nation’s economy, those foundations must be strong. Without strong foundations, the economic structures that we build on them could easily collapse again. Fortifying the grassroots fortifies the whole economy. The strength of the grassroots is high diversity combined with low dependence on imported technology or imported materials. Thus, the grassroots economy is a source of stability that can make a national economy more resilient to the fluctuating trade conditions and fluctuating exchange rates. As His Majesty suggests in his Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy, the goal is to make the nation less vulnerable to shocks from outside. At the same time, strengthening the grassroots strengthens society. By harnessing and developing local skills, people can have greater feelings of well-being, satisfaction and integrity. Furthermore, if the micro-economy is well managed, it has the potential to not only feed itself, but also to provide significant growth momentum for the macro-economy. In managing the different layers of the economy, we should not be asking ‘what comes first?’ But rather, ‘how can we create synergy?’ In other words, how can we design and build a system that makes it possible for complementarities to be realized. To be blunt, how can we tackle the poverty problem at its roots? There is no clear cut answer. But I believe that over the past two days, we have examined different, workable solutions. We have looked at ways of preserving and harnessing the cultural riches of our homelands. Then we have gone on to look at ways to combine those assets with modern management and financing. And we can see that by cultivating intellectual property at the grassroots level, we can create jobs and inspiration. The grassroots are indeed the foundation base for long term sustainable development. By empowering the grassroots through accessibility to microfinance is to expand the links within the economy further and deeper than ever before for the benefit of all people. I ask you to take away these ideas. But more than that, I ask you to act on them. No longer should the grassroots be forced to exist in the economic dessert, away from the life-giving rivers of finance. Just as a farmer diverts water to irrigate his lands, and bring life to parched earth, so we should divert sufficient of financial flows to bring a flowering vibrancy to the grassroots economy. Governments are not only accountable for maintaining economic stability and efficiency, but are also responsible for economic equity and opportunity. The values of personal, family, community and national integrity are not mutually exclusive to economic growth. If we can be catalysts in the microeconomic process that leads to cooperation between individual economic players, then we will be catalysts for wider economic cooperation. Hopefully, the wisdom and insight that we have all gained these past few days will also lead to greater international cooperation. So, again I cannot urge you strongly enough to use the knowledge you have gained for the betterment of all. For its part, the Government Savings Bank will be reporting on this conference on its website, perhaps giving you a chance to catch up on something you missed. The journey towards stable, sustainable, and cooperative economic development is a long one. The past two days have been another step on that journey. The next step is in your hands. Thank you. |
The GSB Work Spaces are related to Bank's consulting engagements with Reflected Knowledge. This is not an official or unofficial website of Government Savings Bank. Access is restricted to authorized personnel only except as determined by GSB. ©2005-2008 Government Savings Bank and Steve Barth. All rights reserved. |