Press Release: President Bill Clinton Gives Update on Clinton Global Initiative

Event raised over $2 billion in commitments to address global problems.

President Clinton announced the progress of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) today at the launch of the Global Commercial Microfinance Consortium, a $75 million commercial fund and the fulfillment of a CGI commitment made by Deutsche Bank. Clinton discussed the progress that has been made since the global summit last September 15-17, announcing additional commitments made after the closing day and highlighting progress on several of the more than $2 billion in specific pledges.

Today's launch of the Global Commercial Microfinance Consortium is the first fulfillment of a commitment made at CGI. The Consortium is a ground-breaking $75 million multi-tiered commercial fund that will provide local currency financing for up to five years to Micro Finance Institutions (MFI) globally. The Consortium is comprised of a diverse investor group from the private and public sectors who have joined together to apply their business know-how, capital and development initiatives to alleviate global poverty through financial market-based solutions.

In the ten weeks since the conference, commitments have continued to pour in, putting the total value of specific pledges at over $2 billion. CGI staff is currently assisting participants who made commitments at CGI 2005, and are looking forward to CGI 2006 in New York City. An interim report on CGI commitments will be made available later this year.

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