ArmInfo.Central Bank of Armenia and the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) are organizing the 5th Experts Group on Financial Inclusion Policy (EGFIP) Meeting on 1-3 June 2020, the first AFI regional initiative to be held virtually given the magnitude of the global crisis posed by COVID19.
Financial sector regulators and policymakers from seven countries represented by AFI's Eastern Europe & Central Asia Policy Initiative (ECAPI) are attending the event to exchange knowledge and experiences. These include the central banks of Armenia, Belarus, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as well as the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Financial Regulatory Commission of Mongolia.
"We are proud to have a long history of productive cooperation with AFI. Armenia hosted working group meetings and Joint Learning Programmes and now we host ECAPI-EGFIP virtual meeting. Although we are unable to meet you in person due to current situation worldwide, nevertheless we are pleased that the digitized world allows us to connect people from different countries and at the same time let us stay at our places safe and healthy. I am more than confident that effectiveness of our work will not suffer" says Central Bank of Armenia Deputy Governor Vakhtang Abrahamyan.
ECAPI members will also take part in discussions on the implications of COVID-19 for the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) region, alongside the network's global partners and funders. ECAPI will focus on peer learning opportunities to address specific challenges in responding to the pandemic, particularly in consumer protection, financial literacy, digital financial services and financial technology for financial inclusion.
"Financial inclusion is one of the few solutions available that can immediately address the issues facing hard-hit economies across the network. With our members in Europe and Central Asia, we are discussing the AFI COVID-19 Policy Response, which combines quick, needs-based, highly practical and high-impact interventions that enable the implementation of rapid response policies and regulations in highly affected countries that are structured to meet members' needs in the short and medium term," AFI Executive Director Dr. Alfred Hannig said. The three-day meeting will also conduct developed-developing country dialogue on cybersecurity, followed by a member training on digital financial literacy. Officials who have been closely involved in the work related to regulations on DFS with a focus on cybersecurity and financial literacy would benefit most from this training.
