Finance ministers and central bank governors from the G20 emphasized the importance of AFI, the Maya Declaration and the AFI SME Finance Working Group (SMEFWG) during a meeting held 19-20 July 2013 in Moscow, Russia to review the current state of the global economy and discuss the required policies to stimulate economic growth in preparation for the upcoming G20 Leaders’ Summit.

In its meeting communiqué, the G20 recognized the support from AFI as an implementing partner toward the progress achieved by the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), including the creation of a fourth GPFI subgroup focused on financial consumer protection and financial literacy, and work on the expansion of the G20 Basic Set of Financial Inclusion Indicators to cover the quality of financial services provision and the use of innovative delivery channels.

The finance ministers and central bank governors also applauded AFI member institutions that have made Maya Declaration Commitments in areas with great potential to increase financial inclusion, and urged the GPFI “to continue support of global platforms such as AFI’s Maya Declaration.”

And in support of peer learning the G20 welcomed the launch of the SMEFWG, which extends the AFI Network’s existing peer learning services to include SME finance policy and regulatory issues with a focus on the challenges and policy solutions of most relevance to AFI’s membership of primary regulators of financial services.