Conferences - Rural Finance Learning Center (RFLC)

: Rural Finance Research Conference, Rome, Italy

A number of conferences and workshops are organised each year which bring together experts and practitioners in the field of rural finance to discuss and share their experiences. In order to make the information presented at these meetings more widely available and enable non-participants to see the papers and presentations made, this section of the Rural Finance Learning Centre will be used to host materials from the most relevant events for a limited period of time.

This was the first international conference in Asia on "Agricultural Value Chain Finance" and was intended for decision-makers of financial entities with activities in the agricultural sector, non-financial companies working in the sector (producers, processors, exporters, marketers, input suppliers), government authorities, business chambers and international organisations. It was jointly organised by UNCTAD, FAO and MCX and took place in Mumbai on 16 and 17 March, 2007.

Speakers were drawn from many countries and included high-level spokespersons from a select group of major companies active in the agricultural sector, commodity exchanges, financial institutions, international organisations and researchers. The experienced speakers shared their thoughts with the audience and examined best practices in the use of agricultural value chains as a mechanism for offering financial services to participants in these chains.