Hyderabad: The two-day second meeting of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) under G20 India Presidency will be held at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) from Monday.
A GPFI Symposium on Digital Innovations in Payments and Remittances will also be held for both G20 and non-G20 countries on March 6, G20 India Chief Coordinator Harsh V. Shringla said at a press conference on Friday evening.
The GPFI Working Group of the G20 Finance Track is an inclusive platform for all G20 countries, interested non-G20 countries and relevant stakeholders to enhance financial inclusion across the world, he said the deliverables of the GPFI guide not only G20 countries but also those beyond the G20.
The first GPFI meeting was held in Kolkata from January 9 to 11 this year, where members discussed and agreed upon the work programme and priorities for the year, Shringla said.
A symposium on unlocking the potentials of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for advancing financial inclusion and productivity gains was organised along-side the meeting which was instrumental in deepening the understanding of advancing financial inclusion through leveraging DPI and offered significant insights on the multi-stakeholder ecosystem approach to leverage DPI for rapidly progressing towards financial inclusion goals.
The second GPFI meeting is expected to take forward the discussions on the development of important deliverables for the year including those on Digital Financial Inclusion, SME Finance and development of Financial Inclusion Action Plan 2023 which will guide the financial inclusion work for 2024-26, he informed.
Guided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision in the first ever Voice of the Global South Summit hosted by India on January 12, 2023 to amplify the Voice of the Global South in the G20, the pre-events to the second G20 GPFI Meeting are intended to exchange ideas and experiences with emerging economies of the Global South on leveraging new innovations such as DPI including digital payments eco-system leading to enhancing digital financial inclusion, he said.
The Knowledge and Experience Exchange Programme is expected to see the participation of Ministry of Finance and Central Bank representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Jordan, Malawi, Maldives, Nepal, Oman, Philippines, Poland, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam as well as from Regional Organizations, namely, the Asian Development Bank, the African Union Commission, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Arab Monetary Fund, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, the Gates Foundation, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States and Smart Africa.
Experiences and know-how from experts from India, including from the Ministry of Finance, Reserve Bank of India, National Payments Corporation of India, Unique Identification Authority of India will be shared to reflect the Indian experience in transforming the financial inclusion landscape by leveraging DPIs, he said.
This Exchange Programme will also enable non-G20 EMEs to share their priorities, ideas and aspirations for advancing financial inclusion which will be useful takeaways for the G20 as it works towards developing a Financial Inclusion Action Plan (FIAP) for 2024-26, Shringla added.
