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June 26, 2003
"RURAL
FINANCE: KEY ISSUES AND INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN ROMANIA"
USAID Conference
New Montana Hotel, Sinaia
June 29-July 1, 2003
The
United States Embassy, through its office of the Agency for International
Development (USAID) in Romania, is sponsoring a conference on
"Rural Finance: Key Issues and Investment Opportunities in
Romania". The conference is also being organized by the Agricultural
Development and Policy Support Program of the United States Department
of Agriculture and the Center for International Agricultural Finance
of Iowa State University, and will be held from June 29 - July
1, at the New Montana Hotel, in Sinaia.
The
conference will identify ways to increase the flow of financing
and credit to the agricultural sector in order to better prepare
it for Romania's accession into the European Union. The fundamental
message for participants is that a coherent agricultural policy,
based on competitive and free market principles, should replace
inconsistent support measures and subsidies that have characterized
policy in the past. This will provide clear incentives to banks
and other financial institutions to make credit available to farmers
and agriculture-based industries in rural areas.
Attendees
will hear presentations about rural finance and credit mechanisms
and will also participate in workshops to discuss and develop
solutions to rural finance problems, which are specific to Romania.
They will also identify opportunities in Romania where technical
assistance, training, and better donor coordination with rural
financial institutions are needed to bring about sustainable rural
development.
Invitees
include members of parliament, large farmers, seed, equipment,
and fertilizer suppliers, bankers, senior members of the Ministry
of Agriculture, and staff of the World Bank, EU, and FAO and other
related organizations.
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