AFI will host the second meeting of the Financial Inclusion Strategy Peer Learning Group (FISPLG) and the Policymakers’ Roundtable on SME Finance this week in Bangkok, Thailand. The FISPLG meeting will be held 6-7 March 2013, while the Policymakers’ Roundtable on SME Finance will be conducted 8 March 2013.

More than 100 participants from at least 35 member countries as well as interested stakeholders are expected to be in attendance.

The meetings will be highlighted by high-level participation from Bank of Tanzania (BoT) Governor Benno Ndulu, Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) Governor Denton Rarawa, Reserve Bank of Vanuatu (RBV) Deputy Governor Peter Merakali, Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan Deputy Governor Eden Dema, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Deputy Governor and Chair of the AFI Steering Committee Nestor Espenilla, Jr., and Director of the Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four (G-24) on International Monetary Affairs and Development Amar Bhattacharya. Additionally, the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) co-chairs will attend.

The objective of the three-day event is to work toward building a peer learning agenda for two new topic areas — National Financial Inclusion Strategies and SME Finance — beyond existing working groups that will be a focus for the AFI Network moving forward. These two new topic areas fulfill a G20 mandate for AFI as an implementing partner of the G20 Financial Inclusion Peer Learning Program and SME Finance subgroup of the GPFI.