Dear
Professor Yunus
As a result
of your visits to Chile in 2001 and 2003, different sectors
of our society have reinforced their poverty promotion commitment,
through microcredit as a key development system.
The ideas and
concepts you proposed in the meetings you held with President
Ricardo Lagos as well as a wide range of representative
people, including businessmen, congressmen, economists,
microfinance institutions executives, young people, and
catholic church members, have become a guide and an inspiration
source to this process, and a strong microcredit support.
The goals proposed
during these years and their achievement, locate Chile among
the leading Latin-American countries in the subject, through
the development of a system based on the confidence, which
recognizes people’s social characteristics, and the
allowance of several institutions involved in a competitive
and collaborative environment, with direct benefit of micro-entrepreneurs.
We feel that
Chilean experience has particular characteristics very useful
to share with other Latin American countries, based on our
common ethnical roots and similar cultures. According to
that, we formally ask for your sponsorship to our application
to the next Regional Microcredit Summit to be held in 2005.
On our behalf,
we have proposed to Banco Estado, Caja de Compensacion de
Los Andes, Fundacion Contigo and Desafio, to join us in
this initiative, entrusting the general co-ordination to
Desafio.
In the meantime,
we keep waiting for your answer in order to begin working
in the program origination.
With best regards
Andres Palma Irarrazaval
Planning and Cooperation Minister, Santiago
24th November, 2003
