Speech by Mr. Marcel Lauzon, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Ms. Anne Gaboury, President-Chief Executive Officer of Développement international Desjardins, on the occasion of the 2008 Desjardins Group Annual General Meeting

Centre des congrès de Québec, March 29, 2008
(Actual speech may differ from this text)

Marcel Lauzon—We wish you a warm welcome to this Développement international Desjardins information session that is intended to provide information about our achievements and results from 2007. The last year was an important one during which we continued to maintain an excellent level of consulting services to financial cooperatives around the world, and at the same time deployed innovative efforts to integrate new strategies into our development outlook.

Anne Gaboury—Indeed, it is important to understand that while the needs are just as great as ever in disadvantaged countries, the way we respond to those needs changes as governments change and development assistance is viewed in a new light. Because more than 80% of the people in many developing nations still have no access to the financial services that lead to empowerment, we must maintain the goal of improving access to financial services. And the solutions proposed by DID remain pertinent because they consist of empowering communities to set up financial institutions that build wealth in the community. What is changing however, is the method in which development is financed. As this takes place, DID must maintain its world leadership in creating and strengthening cooperatives as well as developing innovative, new areas of intervention.

Marcel Lauzon—DID has recorded significant achievements in 2007 in the field of consulting expertise. Proxfin is an example, bringing together thirty DID financial institution partners that reach over seven million households and entrepreneurs in twenty countries. The DID role is to organize in-depth exploration of community finance efforts by the group. This is a very modern strategy for development that emphasizes relationships within the developing world itself, among the very countries involved.

Anne Gaboury—This year also marks major, historic progress in creating networks of financial cooperatives in Vietnam and Haiti, where in each case, a federation has now been established based on several years of talks and negotiations among the financial cooperatives.

Marcel Lauzon—The distance training program launched in Russia in collaboration with the University of Rostov is also very impressive. In less than two years, nearly 200 individuals have completed this easy-to-access program on best practices for managing financial cooperatives. During fifteen years of cooperation with Russia, 213 cooperatives have been established by Russian communities.

Anne Gaboury—Speaking of innovative approaches, it is worth emphasizing the development achieved in specialized sectors of financing such as agriculture, SME financing and housing. By improving its approach to these sectors, DID is staking out a position as an institution capable of working across all sectors of community finance, enabling it to deal with the full range of concerns related to access to financing. This approach is better aligned with the concerns of top decision makers in the countries in which we are working.

Marcel Lauzon—The video that you will see in a few minutes is a fine illustration of the importance of working on very specific needs. Another way for DID to handle the changes being made to development assistance is to diversify our financial partners. The year 2007 has been successful in that respect. Major breakthroughs have been achieved in the housing finance sector with the International Financial Corporation, a component of the World Bank Group and a major strategic partner. At the end of the year, a partnership was also initiated with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that will enable us to implement inter-institution transactions, bringing secure and accessible financial transactions to rural communities in Haiti, Togo, Burkina Faso and Mali.

Anne Gaboury—A good year, I believe!

Marcel Lauzon—Yes, a very good year, especially in this highly difficult environment that calls for collaboration from all sides. In this respect, I wish to thank my colleagues on the board of directors who have put their heartfelt commitment and their wide-ranging expertise into serving and promoting DID… and to thank the whole team at DID, whose skills and commitment I proudly salute. Thanks also to the many indispensable people within the Desjardins Group who welcome our partners, take part in our activities, and provide us with inspiration day after day.

And now I hope you enjoy our video which focuses this year on the development of agricultural finance.