APRACA held its 62nd Executive Committee Meeting on 26 February 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand with the participation of 29 delegates from 11 member countries and three Executives of APRACA Secretariat and Agencies, hosted by Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) of Thailand. At the meeting held at the Intercontinental Hotel, the Executive Committee adopted,
APRACA held its 62nd Executive Committee Meeting on 26 February 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand with the participation of 29 delegates from 11 member countries and three Executives of APRACA Secretariat and Agencies, hosted by Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) of Thailand. At the meeting held at the Intercontinental Hotel, the Executive Committee adopted, among others, APRACA Strategic Plan for 2013-2018 and the Plan to Increase Membership. With the approval of membership applications submitted by six new member institutions including Sathapana Ltd. and PRASAC MFI Co., Ltd., both from Cambodia, Habib Bank Ltd., Faysal Bank Ltd., and Pakistan Microfinance Network from Pakistan, as well as National Development Bank of Sri Lanka, the total number of member institutions of APRACA increased to 60.
The Executive Committee Meeting was followed by a field visit to Phuket Island from 27 February to 1 March, where the participants had an opportunity to observe value chain activities of Thai farmers and agribusinesses through the visit to Pa Khlok Horticulture Farmers, a rubber producing and processing group made up of 1,064 member farmers in the region.
APRACA organized CEOs Open Forum on Agricultural/Rural Finance
APRACA organized CEOs Open Forum on Agricultural/Rural Finance from 9:00 to 13:00 hours on 26 February 2013 at the Intercontinental Bangkok in conjunction with its Executive Committee Meeting. The Forum was attended by a total of 64 participants within and without Thailand.
A total of 5 CEOs and high-level Officers of APRACA member institutions made presentations on the major issues and challenges of their institutions or their countries in the field of agricultural/rural finance. Speakers were from two central banks including Bangladesh Bank and Nepal Rastra Bank, Agricultural Credit Council of the Philippines (a government agency), Bank of Ceylon (a commercial bank), National Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks’ Federation of India, and PRASAC Microfinance Institution of Cambodia.
APRACA interim Chairman, Mr. Kim Vada from National Bank of Cambodia, gave the opening speech for the Forum, followed by welcoming remarks and a keynote speech by Mr. Luck Wajananawat, President of Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives of Thailand.