We cordially invite you to join the 7th World Congress on Agricultural and Rural Finance, to be held in Morelia, Michoacán, on November 23 to 25, 2022 at Fideicomisos Instituidos en Relación Con la Agricultura – FIRA – Banco de México´s headquarters, who is co-hosting the congress together with the Latin American Association of Development Financing Institutions (ALIDE). This global event is being organized in collaboration with four other Regional and global Associations namely, African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA), the Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA), the Near East–North Africa Regional Agricultural Credit Association (NENARACA) and the Confédération Internationale du Crédit Agricole (CICA). The forum brings together the most relevant players in rural and agricultural finance and stakeholders around the globe to share experiences on emerging and cross cutting issues on the industry. For full information and preliminary Agenda, please visit the dedicated congress website: https://world-congress.alide.org The 21st century faces challenges of great importance to humanity. Some of them, because of the increasing course of activities promoted by man, willing to produce more food but having adverse consequences as climate change, floods, droughts, desertification, loss of biodiversity, pests, and diseases; and their consequences on the sustainability of the planet and together with other supervening factors, resulting from Covid-19 and the current global tensions and conflict, such as the health, food security and economic negative consequences. In this context the 7th. World Congress will address as Key Topic “Response to the emerging global scenario: financing as a lever to mitigate direct and indirect impacts on agricultural and rural enterprises”, with the following broad objectives:

• • Balancing the effects of the pandemic, climate change and global tensions on agricultural-livestock, food security and rural producers.
  • Stability and/or countercyclical financing lessons in the face of the disruptive effects of the pandemic, climate change and global tensions on financial markets.
  • The role of financing to restore balance with actions that mitigate inequality and respect the environment.
  • Technological advances that produce benefits in rural environment to break down information barriers in agricultural-livestock and rural undertakings and help access to credit.
  • Capacities, challenges, and innovations in the insurance sector to cover production risks in agriculture.
  • Show the diversity of instruments and mechanisms to support the agricultural-livestock and rural sector.

The congress will also aim to tackle in a multi-perspective setting, on the opportunities, gaps, and priority actions for developing sustainable and viable financial services and investments with actionable insights on rural financial services as a viable business strategy and as a meaningful contribution to the inclusive growth across the globe. Keeping in view the issues faced by the vulnerable communities across the globe, the Congress has considered 6 thematic sessions for discussions and analysis by international experts:

Session Theme 1:
Response to the New Global Scenario: Agricultural Development and Sustainable and Inclusive food Systems
Session Theme 2:
Technological Innovations for Agricultural Financing in Latin America and Mexico
Session Theme 3:
Financing Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development in LAC: Role of National Public Development Banks
Session Theme 4:
Seafood Value Chain Finance in Africa: Scaling Up the Blue Economy
Session Theme 5:
Green inclusive Finance as a Critical Trigger to Sustainable Agriculture & Food System
Session Theme 6:
Guarantee Systems as Drivers of Agricultural-Livestock Financing