Saudi Arabia Pledges Poverty Alleviation Support For Sierra Leone

Saudi King Abdullah

The Executive Director of Arab Gulf Programme For United Nations Development Organizations (AGFUND) has said in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that his organization “is in the process of establishing a Micro Finance Bank in Sierra Leone.” Nassaer Al-Kahtani told the Information Bureau of the Sierra Leone Embassy in a brief telephone interview last night that, Bank of Innovation and Partnership (BIP) “is ready to participate in the effort of poverty alleviation in Sierra Leone.”

He further disclosed that AGFUND’s Resident Advisor in Micro Finance, Hani Hussein Ali, has been appointed to take over the activities of establishing BIP and train its staff, adding that, he (Mr. Hani) will visit Sierra Leone in the shortest possible time. BIP, the Executive Director reiterates, provides incentives and allows the poor an opportunity to acquire extensive financial services, in an accessible and flexible manner.

He assured that the bank will also support financial institutions working in the area of micro credit for the poor in Sierra Leone.

AGFUND, Mr. Kahtani concludes, is a non- profit development institution established in 1980 by the initiative of the internationally acclaimed Saudi businessman, His Royal Highness, Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Al- Saud with the support of the leaders of the Arab Gulf States and that they are concerned with the support of sustainable human development efforts targeting the neediest in developing countries.

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