Hyderabad: Second G20 GPFI Meeting in the city from March 4 to 7

Hyderabad: Chief Coordinator G20 India Harsh V. Shringla, addressing a joint media conference along with the Economic Adviser Chanchal C. Sarkar, here on Friday, said the second meeting of the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) under G20 India Presidency will be held in Hyderabad on March 6-7.

The meeting will be preceded by a Knowledge and Experience Exchange Programme for the Emerging Economies of the Global South to be held from March 4 to 6. On March 6 a GPFI symposium on Digital Innovations in Payments and Remittances will also be held for both G-20 and non-G20 countries.

On impact of geopolitical scenario on the interoperability of transnational digital payments, he said it is a difficult geopolitical scenario. "We have gone through difficult situations. But, the Covid pandemic is the greatest shock to international systems and countries since World War II". It is one which impacted the countries. "You may be thousands of km away but you are impacted by it. You are collateral of the inter-linkages and inter-connectivity whatever happens at a faraway place, you are affected."

"It showed how international systems are at stake, and international governance is at stake. Our (India's) presidency of G-20 is to strengthen the international governance systems developed after WW-II. It has been 75 years since they are created. "We need to look at them with a fresh look and strengthen their mandate, make them more representative,enable them to meet 21st century requirements. If they don't, there are bound to have gaps which will lead to systematic incoherence at global level and raise issues that are not easily reconcilable. It is not a situation we want. However; these are important issues and the international community should look into them," he added.

Shringla said 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. The deliverables of the GPFI guide not only G20 countries, but also those beyond the G20.

He said the first GPFI meeting was held in Kolkata from January 9-11, 2023. 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 the development of Financial Inclusion Action Plan- 2023, which will guide the financial inclusion work for 2024-26.

Guided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision in the first ever Voice of the Global South Summit hosted by India on January 12 to amplify the Voice of the Global South in 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 about 40 countries. besides, regional organisations.

Sarkar said the experiences and know-how from experts from India, including from the Ministry of Finance, RBI, National Payments Corporation of India, and Unique Identification Authority of India will be shared with the participant for developing a Financial Inclusion Action Plan (FIAP) for 2024-26.