Amsterdam hosts Africa Finance & Investment Forum 2009

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM: The Africa Finance & Investment Forum 2009 (AFIF09) will be held from 13 - 15 December 2009 at the ABN AMRO Headquarters' conference centre in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. According to event organisers, EMRC, 250 high-level delegates will be in attendance.

The sessions at this year's event will cover a selection of topics relevant to the overall theme such as ‘Boosting African Economy through Entrepreneurship' and ‘The role of International Financial Institutions'. Thematic parallel sessions on topics such as Capacity Building, Energy, Trade, Microfinance and Infrastructures will also take place.
Idit Miller confirms that, “This year's Africa Finance & Investment Forum will follow on its tradition of bringing together renowned entrepreneurs, businessmen and decision makers who all share the common goal of Africa's growth and development - we look forward to gathering in the business hub of Amsterdam.”

Keynote speakers include:

Nanno Kleiterp, CEO, Netherlands Dev. Finance Company (FMO)

Martin Curwen, Director General at the European Investment Bank

José Briosa é Gala, Personal representative for Africa to the European Commission President

Loic Sadoulet; Head of Africa Initiative, Professor of Economics at INSEAD Business School

Thomas de Man, President Africa Middle East, Heineken

EMRC plans to coordinate one-on-one business networking meetings in collaboration with the International Trade Centre (ITC), the joint agency of the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations.

“From its world-famous historical sights to its multiculturalism and diversity, the city of Amsterdam is the ideal place to build partnerships for Africa's development and the Netherlands is a great contributor to Africa's fast growing economy,” said Idit Miller, MD, EMRC.

Focusing on partnerships for growth and development, the 2009 edition of the Africa Finance & Investment Forum is organised in collaboration with the FMO (Netherlands Development Finance Company).

Business leaders from Africa, Europe, America and Asia representing micro-finance institutions, development and commercial banks, governmental and non-governmental organisations as well as the private sector, will be able to network with potential project collaborators through the event.

Once registered for the forum, each delegate is requested to give a description of the services and products they provide as well as the profile of companies and institutions they would like to connect with.

Each delegate will then receive a personalised appointment schedule that plots out who they will meet as well as the time and location. One-on-one meetings will take precedence at the forum on the afternoons of the 14th and 15th of December 2009.

Interested delegates need to register for the Africa Finance & Investment Forum 2009 in order to qualify for the Business Networking Meetings.

For more information, go to http://www.emrc.be/, email or tel: +32 2 626 15 15.