New York - Former U.S. President Bill Clinton was joined today by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to close the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI).

In his remarks, President Clinton announced that by the end of the meeting, which has been underway since Tuesday, CGI members in 2009 made 284 new commitments valued at more than $9.4 billion dollars. In total, these commitments are projected to improve more than 200 million lives. Since 2005, members of the Clinton Global Initiative have made nearly 1,700 commitments valued at $57 billion dollars.

“I think we can say with some certainty that this model actually does work,” President Clinton said. “People don’t have to have the same politics, the same religion, or speak the same language to work together and to have an impact. We all have things to learn from each other. What we need is a shared mechanism to achieve common goals.”

The impact of 2009 commitments, once fully implemented, is expected to yield the following results:

• 79 million people will generate sustainable income through self-employment or new job opportunities.
• $5.4 billion will be invested in or loaned to small- and medium-sized enterprises
• 25.4 million people will have improved access to capital and financial services.
• 3.5 million small farmers will gain access to inputs, supports, and markets.
• 7 million women and girls will be reached through empowerment initiatives.
• 30 million children will gain access to education.
• 2 million girls will be reached through school enrollment efforts.
• 30 million metric tons of CO2 emissions will be cut
• 7 million people will be reached with clean energy.
• 1.5 million people will be engaged in efforts to promote climate change solutions.
• 83 million people will have increased access to health services.
• 17 million people will have increased access to maternal-child health and survival programs.
• 4.7 million children will benefit from malnutrition interventions.
• 40 million people will receive treatment for neglected tropical diseases.
• $50 million will be raised to fund research and development of new vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics.
• 18 million people will have increased access to safe drinking water.  

“At Wal-Mart, what we appreciate most about CGI is that each participant makes a real commitment to improve the world and then delivers on that commitment. This approach ensures that all of us who step forward are in fact making a difference and living up to President Clinton’s vision. We look forward in the years ahead to continue working with President Clinton and CGI as we broaden and accelerate our commitment to being a more sustainable company.” Mike Duke, President and CEO, Wal-Mart

While many commitments are made in advance of the Annual Meeting, some are inspired onsite. For example:

Member Mouhsine Serrrar from Prakti Design Labs came in to the Annual Meeting to find partners for his commitment to distribute fuel efficient cookstoves in India. This week, he has not only developed a new commitment around developing fuel efficient cookstoves in Haiti, a country that desperately needs new options for stopping deforestation, but he has also found a wide range of implementing and funding partners - including E+Co, AIDG, the Sierra Club, among others - to make it possible.

Another member, inspired by remarks by Dr. Wangari Mathaai, has anonymously committed to help Mathaai’s organization and to fund cataract surgeries for more than 300 individuals.

While attending the action network on human trafficking and slavery, Jim Greenbaum realized that he could use his contacts and resources to make a difference. He committed to put the issue of ending child and slave labor on the map of the Young Presidents Organization, and to work to get all YPO member companies to ensure that they and their supply chains are not utilizing child or slave labor.

A complete list of commitments made is available below.

Prior to the closing session, a morning plenary session focused on how financial resources could be deployed for the global good. The session, “Moving from Crisis to Opportunity - Financing an Equitable Future,” featured Fazle Abed, founder and chairman of BRAC, Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, James Dimon, chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co., and Peter Sands, CEO of Standard Chartered PLC.

It was moderated by CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo. Participants discussed how to avoid another financial crisis, and how to extend financial products such as microfinance and insurance to the world’s poor. ?

During the session, several new commitments were announced. Among them:

• Moody’s, in partnership with Kiva, is poised to dramatically increase the number of entrepreneurs benefiting from microloans. Using Moody’s financial support and expertise in risk analysis, and pro-bono credit ratings of Kiva’s 20 largest microfinance institution partners, Kiva will build on-the-ground teams to expand its capacity to connect with entrepreneurs, assess their creditworthiness, and monitor progress toward loan repayment.
• PRODEL commits to develop a savings vehicle targeted at the very poor, which will help raise funds in order to scale up PRODEL’s microfinance lending, both in Nicaragua and throughout Central America. PRODEL’s model of social and financial inclusion offers microloans to the poor for the improvement of housing, basic services, and infrastructure.

About the Clinton Global Initiative

Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) brings together a community of global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Since 2005, CGI Annual Meetings have brought together more than 100 current and former heads of state, 10 of the last 16 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations, major philanthropists, directors of the most effective nongovernmental organizations, and prominent members of the media.

For More Information: Clinton Foundation