“Global Policy Forum”

On September 12-15, 2023, the "Global Policy Forum" was held in Manila - the capital of the Philippines. At the invitation of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFD), representatives of the National Bank of Tajikistan under the leadership of the First Deputy Chairman of the NBT Tolibzoda Firdavs Nazrimad participated in the Forum.

The Forum, which is organized annually by the AFD, includes working group meetings on consumer empowerment, market behavior, digital financial services, information gathering on financial inclusion, balancing global standards, peer learning Financial Inclusion Strategy, SME finance and inclusive green finance, as well as the AFD General Annual Meeting and the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Policy Initiative (ECAPI) Meeting.

It should be noted that the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) is one of the leading global organizations in the field of development and implementation of financial inclusion policy, with 86 government agency members from more than 80 countries including ministries of finance, central banks and financial management bodies. The National Bank of Tajikistan is a member of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion since 2011, which allows using this platform to promote financial inclusion policies.

On September 12 of this year, the 8th General Annual Meeting of the AFD was held within the Forum with the participation of member states to approve the AFD Strategic Plan (Phase 4) for 2024-2028, the structure and amount of membership fee for 2024-2026, adoption of the Manila Manifesto and amendments to the AFD Charter. The representatives of the National Bank of Tajikistan under the leadership of First Deputy Chairman Tolibzoda F.N. attended the Annual Meeting. On the same day, a meeting of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Policy Initiative (ECAPI) was also held on "Financial Services Inclusion in ECAPI for 2023-2025” with the participation of representatives of Armenia, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

At the meetings of the Working Groups, representatives of the National Bank of Tajikistan participated in the discussion of issues related to practical solution of topics on financial inclusion, ensuring data protection, application of information, regulatory and supervisory technologies (regtech va suptech), development of digital financial infrastructure, financial capacity and improvement of financial health, principles of their integration into the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, the result of the inclusive report on green financial inclusion, and the results of the Green Report.

The Working Groups also addressed Member States' experiences with financial supervision and implementation of new international standards, ways to innovatively integrate youth into financial inclusion, targets, the importance of digitalization of financial services, SME financing, information gathering and legal frameworks, and the achievement of key objectives and the expansion of inclusive green finance.

On September 14 of this year, the “Global Policy Forum” was launched with the participation of AFD Executive Director Alfred Hannig, Chairman of the Central Bank of the Philippines Eli M. Remolon, Chairman of the Reserve Bank of Fiji and Chairman of the AFD Board Ariff Ali, in which the NBT management and employees participated.

The Forum presented the AFD's achievements in financial inclusion and the Philippines' experience in developing digital financial services and successfully implementing its commitments under the May Declaration.

On September 15, after summarizing the results of the Forum, the most active countries received prizes. The head of the delegation of the National Bank of Tajikistan, which is one of the active members of the AFD in the field of financial services development, including the development of financial services for women and youth, was awarded the "Ambassador for Gender Inclusion Finance" prize.

It should be noted that in the history of Tajikistan's cooperation with the AFD, the head of the delegation of the National Bank of Tajikistan made a closing speech and declared the Forum closed.

To recall, within the framework of this Forum, the delegation of the National Bank of Tajikistan under the leadership of the First Deputy Chairman of the NBT held several bilateral meetings. In particular, Firdavs Tolibzoda met with Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of the Philippines. During the meeting, they discussed issues of strengthening cooperation, including the establishment of correspondent relations and attracting technical and advisory assistance for the development of the most important areas of the country's banking system. In addition, the management of the National Bank of Tajikistan met with Mey Aboulnaga, First Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, where the issues of cooperation in the field of consumer protection and financial inclusion were discussed. On the margins of the Forum, the management of the National Bank of Tajikistan also met with Wendy Teleki, Head of the Secretariat of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), during which the parties considered the implementation of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code (WeFinanceCode) in the Republic of Tajikistan.

Wendy Teleki spoke about the objectives of the Code, the partners in the implementation of the Code, he also requested information about successful women entrepreneurs in the country for the implementation of the document.

On September 15, 2023, Firdavs Tolibzoda met with the Executive Director of AFD Alfred Hannig to exchange experience in the field of financial inclusion, to study the experience of developing countries in the development and implementation of the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, ensuring access to green finance. Alfred Hannig thanked for active participation and fruitful cooperation with AFD, and noted the significant role of the Republic of Tajikistan in the field of financial inclusion.

In particular, he recalled that in April 2017, two meetings of AFD working groups were held in Dushanbe with the support of the National Bank of Tajikistan, where more than 80 representatives from 57 countries attended the meeting.     

The AFD Executive Director also expressed his willingness and readiness to hold further AFD events in the Republic of Tajikistan.

Press Division NBT