Canada Pledges US $12 Million for Afghanistan Micro-Credit Program
 
President Karzai at the Council on Foreign RelationsOn September 23, President Karzai attended a banquet hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations of Montreal City.

At the banquet, Josee Verner, Canada’s Minister for International Cooperation, announced that his country pledges US $12 million for Afghanistan’s micro-credit program.

Started in 2003, the micro-credit program has to date benefited 190,000 people, including 140,000 women, by helping them launch their own small scale projects.

In other news, President Karzai and his accompanying delegation will leave Canada for an official four-day visit to Washington DC.

The President will meet with George W. Bush, President of the United States; Dick Cheney, Vice-President; Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense; and Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State, and will visit Florida as well.