UNITED NATIONS VIENNA TO HOLD SYMPOSIUM ON INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF MICROCREDIT

Promoting Financial Global Partnerships to Achieve Millennium Development Goals

(Reissued as received.)

VIENNA, 25 May (UN Information Service) -- A symposium on the topic of “Promoting Financial Global Partnerships for Development” will be held on 2 June 2005 at the Vienna International Centre, on the occasion of the International Year of Microcredit.

The Symposium gives an insight into microcredit as a key mechanism for achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, and as a means to promote poverty reduction and sustainable development in the context of the Secretary-General’s report “In larger freedom:  towards development, security and human rights for all”.  The symposium will also discuss the benefits of microcredit and microfinance, and elaborate on best practices and innovative approaches.  The event is jointly organized by the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) Vienna and the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and will be open to government officials, representatives of civil society, the private sector, permanent missions to the United Nations in Vienna, media and various bodies of the United Nations family.

The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2005 as the International Year of Microcredit and requested that the Year’s observance should give impetus to microcredit programmes throughout the world.

For more information please contact:  e-mail:  unis@unvienna.org, tel.: + 43 1 260 60 4666.

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