Argentine foreign minister lauds BRAC’s social development and financial inclusion initiatives

Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Andres Cafiero visited BRAC head office on Monday (27 February) in the capital as part of his first-ever bilateral visit to Dhaka. 

The purpose of his visit was to learn about BRAC's approach to designing anti-poverty solutions, especially with a focus on women's empowerment and financial inclusion of rural women, reads a press release. 

Santiago Andres Cafiero is leading a 26-member high-level delegation in his maiden state-level visit from the South American nation. Luciana Tito, chief of cabinet; Guillermo Merediz, undersecretary, trade and investment; and other key Argentine government officials were present along with BRAC leadership.  

Asif Saleh, executive director; Arinjoy Dhar, senior director, microfinance; Moutushi Kabir, senior director, people, culture, and communications; and Anna Minj, director, programmes, BRAC International; Tasmiah Tabassum Rahman, associate director, skills development programme were present from the BRAC leadership.    

The Argentine minister said, "Microfinance is a growing sector in Argentina and there are a number of organisations which are trying to support vulnerable families." 

He added, "Covid-19 accelerated the growth of the financial inclusion in general as the Argentine government opened 3.5M bank accounts for Argentine citizens for them to access different family welfare programmes."

The minister enquired about BRAC's intention of providing technical assistance to Argentina for Microfinance.

BRAC executive director said, "Financial inclusion is one of the many tools that BRAC offers to combat poverty from multiple directions. We will be very much interested to pursue opportunities to collaborate with the Argentinian government to share our decades-worth of learning and knowledge on how to bring about financial inclusion in a responsible manner."

The Argentine delegation will leave Dhaka on 1 March.