The IsDB delegation led by Dr Nabil Ghalleb, Director of Economic Empowerment Department and including Br. Syed Hassan Alsagoff, Lead Economic Empowerment Specialist and Sis. Zain Al Imam, Senior Islamic Financial Institutions Investment Specialist met with the Italian and Russian Co-Chairs of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (G20 GPFI) and their respective teams on February 16^th, 2021.

Dr. Nabil Ghalleb emphasized the readiness of the IsDB to leverage its 45 years of cumulative experience in empowering communities across the globe as well as its notable added value in deploying ethical financing structures for sustainable development and financial inclusion to support the GPFI Troika and Subgroup Co-chairs in achieving the G20 FIAP as an Implementing Partner.

He reiterated that selecting IsDB as Implementing Partner of the G20 GPFI is a stepping stone for the Bank that will enable it to contribute and support the strengthening of its member countries’ economic and social fabric through the ongoing work of the GPFI while being committed to the achievement of the G20 High-level Policy Guidelines and the G20 Financial Inclusion Action Plan.

The delegation presented the IsDB;s work in the Financial Inclusion and Economic Empowerment fields and offered suggestions on how IsDB may significantly contribute to the G20 GPFI work. Some of the ideas discussed included: (a) Preparing and conducting a survey on Digital Financial Inclusion; (b) Preparing and conducting a survey on digital financial literacy on MSMEs; and/or c) Developing a set of best practices or toolkits related to digital financial literacy, financial inclusion and/or Economic Empowerment.

To be recalled that the G20 Troika and G20 GPFI Co-chairs approved in 2020 the IsDB selection as an implementing partner at GPFI. GPFI is an inclusive platform for all G20 countries, interested non-G20 countries and relevant stakeholders to carry forward work on financial inclusion, including implementation of the G20 Financial Inclusion Action Plan.