AFI to participate in UNESCAP-Korea financing for development high-level dialogue

AFI will send a delegation to the Republic of Korea for this week’s “First High-Level Follow-up Dialogue on Financing for Development in Asia and the Pacific.” The event will be co-hosted by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea, on 30-31 March 2016 in Incheon.

The meeting will provide an important opportunity to gather regional momentum, scale up consolidated efforts and recalibrate the regional financial architecture to lay down a solid foundation for supporting implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. To support the follow-up process at the regional level, the dialogue could provide an opportunity to the policymakers to further review the several commitments under the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, and to approach their implementation process in Asia and the Pacific region.

AFI will be represented by Deputy Executive Director Norbert Mumba in a session dedicated to financial inclusion, particularly strategies and policies that are most effective in allowing all citizens and firms access to financial services. Also on the panel will be: Azeema Adams, Governor at the Maldives Monetary Authority; Chiranjivi Nepal, Governor at Nepal Rastra Bank; Nerses Yeritsyan, Deputy Chairman at the Central Bank of Armenia; Neav Chanthana, Deputy Governor at the National Bank of Cambodia; Riaz Riazuddin, Deputy Governor at the State Bank of Pakistan; P. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Deputy Governor at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka; Wook Sohn; and President at the Economic Research Institute Bank of Korea.

Possible topics to be covered include:

• How formal financial institutions can be incentivized to provide financial services to households and firms that have no access to such services;
• Which business models and innovations are most effective for financial services providers to engage in financial inclusion;
• What is the scope for peer learning and experience-sharing among countries, including through AFI and related institutions?

It is anticipated that there will be an emphasis on how peer learning and experience sharing—an approach AFI has long championed—can promote a more inclusive finance approach in the Asia-Pacific region, with increased emphasis on the ways to design and implement financing strategies through financial inclusion programs. To note, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda recommends AFI as the ideal partner for facilitating financial inclusion peer learning and experience sharing among countries and regions to more effectively design and implement evidence-based inclusive financial policy.

Also, it will be highlighted that more resources should be allocated to capacity development and expanding peer learning and experiences, which can be supported by the AFI and other regional institutions.

AFI’s success in this area is particularly relevant in the Asia-Pacific region in regard to its Pacific Islands Regional Initiative. Comprised of seven central banks from Pacific Island nations—all from ESCAP member States—the initiative established a long-term entity to address the unique constraints to financial inclusion in the Pacific region. Crucially, the initiative’s members also collaborate with development partners, such as the UNCDF-UNDP Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme, in the formulation of policies, as well as in implementation and evaluation phases.

At the conclusion of the entire meeting, expected outcomes include adopting the Chair’s Summary, containing the key policy recommendations of a regional plan of action on financing for development, and serve as key input to the annual ESCAP commission session in May 2016, and to the financing for development deliberation of the United Nations General Assembly.