The Latin America - Caribbean Regional Microcredit Summit was held in Cartagena, Colombia on June 8- 10, 2009. The summit was jointly hosted by the Microcredit Summit Campaign (MSC) and Banca de las Oportunidades. It offered 5 plenary sessions, 21 workshops and 8 associated sessions. About 1000 delegates from 35 countries took part at the summit.

The purpose of the summit was to stimulate practitioners and other stakeholders in using microfinance to end global poverty and encourage them to achieve the goal of Microcredit Summit set for 2015. The summit was graced by the presence of distinguished delegates including Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, Mr. Alejandro Toledo, former President of Peru and microfinance leaders from around the world.

The audience was inspired by the speech of Professor Muhammad Yunus at the plenary session on "The Future of Microfinance: Short-Term and Long-Term Expansion in the Face of the Financial Crisis and Fluctuating Food and Fuel Costs". Professor Yunus thanked Mr. Alejandro Toledo for not just being a ceremonial figure at the Summit and in support of the Campaign, but an actual national leader who has become a champion of the cause of reaching and empowering the poorest. He emphasized on paying attention to the next generation and the need for integration of health and education into microfinance programs.

Based on the expertise and experience of Grameen replication worldwide, Professor H.I.Latifee, Managing Director of Grameen Trust gave a speech on "Lessons Learned in Improving Replicability of Successful Microfinance Programs -How Can the Best Models Travel Better?". His speech highly appreciated by the audience, who were interested to learn more about Grameen replicability worldwide.

At the summit, Grameen Trust organized an associated session on "Grameen in Latin America: Experience Sharing" under the banner of Grameen Global Network. In this session, among others, the Project Directors of Asociacion Costa Rica Grameen in Costa Rica and Banrual Grameen Microfinanzas in Guatemala shared their experiences of setting up and implementing successful Grameen microcredit programs in the Latin American countries.