APRACA summit starts in Kathmandu

Kathmandu, Nov. 9: The twentieth general assembly of the Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) kicked off here Wednesday.

The Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) said in a press statement that the three-day event would also feature the 67^th APRACA Executive Committee meeting and regional forum on 'Emerging opportunities and challenges of financial inclusion in the Asia-Pacific Region'.

More than 120 participants from APRACA member institutions from 21 countries are attending the policy forum.

At the meeting, the chairmanship of the regional forum was handed to Nepal by Bangladesh for 2016-18.

NRB is the founding member of the APRACA, which was established in 1997 to promote rural finance, including agriculture. Other five institutions involved in rural financing are the members of the forum.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the assembly, NRB governor Dr. Chiranjibi Nepal raised the key concerns for financial inclusion, such as poor access to finance and financial literacy, by highlighting the emergence of financial inclusion as a global priority.

"Enhancing financial inclusion can be facilitated by the growing advancement of technologies, like digital payments," he said.

Dr. Nepal emphasized that empowering people financially should be a continuous process, which needs cooperation among the public and private institutions involved in this sector.

Vice chairman of APRACA and deputy governor of NRB Shiba Raj Shrestha pointed out that financial inclusion had been recognized globally as a major way to empower the people socially and economically.

Chairman of APRACA and deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank S. K. Sur Chowdhury said that the prolonged financial deprivation led to many social disturbances and thus the discussion into the regional policy forums needed to face the emerging challenges of enhancing inclusive finance.