7 September 2022
Dead Sea, Jordan

SARFII Chair and MMA Governor Excellency Ali Hashim, Excellency Governor, Deputy Governor and Representatives from Bangladesh Bank, Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan, State Bank of Pakistan and Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Officials from AFI Management Unit,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

First I want to express my congratulations to all of the South Asian regional members and AFI management for the establishment of regional initiative in South Asia. South Asia Region Financial Inclusion Initiative (SARFII) aims to provide the regional specific tailored solution to the global issues of the financial inclusion. I would also like to express my gratitude to all the SARFII members for electing Nepal Rastra Bank as the founder Vice-Chair of this important regional initiative.

Let me share some history of events leading to the establishment of SARFII. After the long consultative discussion at technical level among the south asian regional AFI Focal Points; the need for establishment of SARFII was escalated to the South Asia Leaders’ Round Table which had concretized it on November 2021. This gave a mandate to AFI Management for facilitating its establishment. At this juncture I would appreciate the proactiveness of AFI management and every member for reaching conclusion.

With launching of SARFII I believe that this will herald bring the south asian AFI regional members closer to each other and strengthen regional cooperation in financial inclusion. SARFII will positively add-on in enhancing AFI’s ability to support its members for their specific regional priorities with shared regional knowledge and tackling with common regional practical solution to the major issue of financial inclusion.

SARFII will also be vital to facilitate the high-level discussion to;

– provide strategic guidance to financial inclusion activities,
– identify opportunities for regional collaboration,
– exercise for region specific tailored services-by knowledge exchange between members, capacity building activities, development of regional knowledge products,
– enhance implementation through technical support, sharing of experiences, etc

At last, I want to thank again all the regional AFI members and AFI management for the collaborative support for the launch of this regional initiative. I also want to express my gratitude to the Central Bank of Jordan and AFI for successfully hosting GPF in Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and for welcoming and extending excellent hospitality to all participants to this mega event where policy makers from wide number of countries gather and discuss the mutual agenda.

Thank You!