Hyderabad: The two-day second Meeting of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) under G20 India Presidency, which concluded here on Tuesday, witnessed the announcement of the selection of its new long-term Co-Chairs.
India and Italy were announced as the new GPFI Co-Chairs with support from the whole membership.
The meeting held on Monday and Tuesday was led by GPFI Co-Chair and G20 India Presidency. It saw participation from Ministry of Finance and Central Bank representatives from G20 and non-G20 countries and International Organisations including GPFI Implementing Partners and Affiliated Partners.
The new Co-Chairs have been selected for a duration of three years and their tenure will commence from 2024.
During the Plenary, the GPFI members discussed and agreed on the way forward for important deliverables for the year including those on Digital Financial Inclusion and SME Finance.
A dedicated workshop was also organised for the development of GPFI Financial Inclusion Action Plan (FIAP) 2023 which will guide the financial inclusion work under G20 for 2024-26.
A Symposium on Digital Innovations in Payments and Remittances was also organised yesterday on the sidelines of the GPFI meeting for both G20 and non-G20 countries.
The Symposium hosted a Panel Discussion on Harnessing Digital Innovations in Payments Systems for Financial Inclusion, Resilience, Productivity Gains, and Inclusive Growth moderated by Dr. Ruth Goodwin- Groen, Managing Director, Better Than Cash Alliance (Better than Cash Alliance) and active discussions between Mr. Pedro de Vasconcelos (Sr. Technical Specialist and Financing Facility for Remittances Manager, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); Ms. Harsha Rodrigues (Executive Vice President & Head of Regional Client Services, Women’s World Banking); Mr. Sudhanshu Prasad (General Manager, Department of Payment and Settlement Systems, RBI) and Dr. Ralph Oyini Mbouna (Director of Digital Transformation and Services, Smart Africa).
The Symposium led to a fruitful exchange of experiences and understanding on the development of a robust payment system for advancing financial inclusion, resilience, productivity gains and inclusive growth.
The GPFI Meeting was preceded by a Knowledge and Experience Exchange Programme for the Emerging Economies of the Global South held from March 4 to 6 this month.
This engagement with the global south is in line with the overall theme of G20 India Presidency — One Earth, One Family and One Future.
