3rd meet of G20 Digital Economy concludes, India signs MoUs with 4 nations

India signed MoUs with four countries - Armenia, Sierra Leone, Suriname and Antigua and Barbuda - on sharing INDIA STACK, a digital solutions implemented at population scale during the third meeting of the 'G20 Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG)' that concluded here on Wednesday.

The agenda of the three-day meeting included the Global DPI (Digital Public Infrastructure) Summit and Global DPI Exhibition as the side events and closed-door meetings among the G20 delegates, invited countries and IOs on the priority areas, a statement said.

More than 250 delegates attended the meeting in-person, of whom there were around 150 foreign delegates from 50 countries. More than 2,000 people attended it virtually. India signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with Armenia, Sierra Leone, Suriname and Antigua and Barbuda on sharing INDIA STACK.

The summit provided a global platform to discuss sector agnostic (foundational) and sectoral DPIs that inter-alia involved leadership, policy and practitioner-level insightful, thought-provoking and future-shaping discussions among overall 60 global experts on DPIs, it said.

These experts participated in 10 important sessions - 'Overview of Digital Public Infrastructure', 'Digital Identities for empowering people', 'Digital Payments and Financial Inclusion', 'DPI for Judicial Systems and Regulations', 'Digital Document Exchange for efficient service delivery', 'Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for DPI', 'Digital Education and Skilling', 'DPI for Digital Health and Climate Action', 'Digital Agriculture Ecosystem', and 'Building the Global DPI Ecosystem'.

By providing the global platform on DPI to digital decision-makers from 50 Countries and multiple international organisations, India took the lead and further strengthened its role of acting as a strong bridge between Global North (G20 members) and Global South (Developing and LMIC countries).

The exhibition showcased 14 experience zones comprising successfully-implemented DPIs related to Digital Identity, Fast Payment, DigiLocker, Soil Health Card, E-National Agriculture Market, Unified Mobile App for New-Age Governance, Open Network for Digital Commerce, seamless travel experience at airport, language translation, learning solution, tele-medical consultation, and Digital India Journey.

It was visited by the delegates attending the summit and G20 DEWG meeting. Residents of Pune comprising also visited the exhibition. The closed-door meeting of G20 DEWG began with the participation of 77 foreign delegates from G20 members, nine guest countries, five international organisations and two regional organisations. The discussion under the Indian Presidency was led by Sushil Pal, Co-Chair G20 DEWG, the statement said. During the meeting, discussions were held on DPI and the concept of 'One Future Alliance and One Future Fund' for DPI, enabling principles for good DPI, and recognition of the need for financing opportunities for DPI in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC).

Thereafter, digital skilling, upskilling and reskilling, capacity building and awareness, building a mutual recognition framework for digital skills and information sharing were discussed.