The first G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) meeting under India’s G20 presidency, scheduled to be held in Kolkata from January 9-11, is likely to focus on the principles of digital financial inclusion, remittance costs and availability of finance for SME sector.

GPFI member countries, guest countries and international organisations invited by India will participate in the meeting to take ahead discussions on the financial inclusion agenda. The event will also feature symposiums, exhibitions and a domestic outreach programme on digital financial literacy involving over 1,800 students from various schools.

“The symposiums will deliberate on unlocking the digital financial inclusion infrastructure and the policy perspective,” said Chanchal Sarkar, Economic Advisor, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, at a press conference here on Sunday.

The finance track is at the core of the G20 process and provides a forum for global economic discourse and policy coordination. It discusses global macroeconomic issues through its meetings of Finance Ministers and central bank governors, their deputies and various working group meetings. Some of the key issues dealt are global economic outlook and monitoring of global economic risks; reforms for a more stable and resilient global financial architecture; international taxation; financing quality infrastructure; sustainable finance; financial inclusion; financial sector reforms and financing for future health emergencies and investments in pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.

The meeting will start with a symposium on “Unlocking the potentials of Digital Public Infrastructure for advancing financial inclusion and productivity gains”. This will also involve an exhibition on “Digital innovations for Financial Inclusion” showcasing India’s achievements and efforts in advancing digital financial inclusion and innovatively displays the financial system infrastructure, emerging technologies, interactive financial literacy awareness videos, digital identification process flow for individuals and digital innovations in financial inclusion.

The GPFI plenary sessions will discuss on role of digital public infrastructure for advancing financial inclusion, reducing cost of remittances, assessing progress made in implementation of G20 high-level principles for digital financial inclusion and advancing financing for MSMEs.

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