Time |
Activity |
9:30 — 10:00 |
Arrival of participants |
10:00 — 11:30 |
Session 1. Setting the Stage
Welcome remarks:
- Mr. Roberto Azêvedo, Director-General of the WTO
Speech
- H.E. Alexander Mora, Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica
Keynote Panel Discussion:
“The link between trade rules, national regulatory and policy choices, and development outcomes in payments.”
- Prof. Njuguna Ndung’u, former Governor, Central Bank of Kenya and Member of the Steering Committee of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion.
Presentation
- Mr. Hamid Mamdouh, Director Trade in Services Division, WTO
- Ali Sarfraz, CEO Karandaz, an initiative for Digital economy and Financial Inclusion
- Moderator: H.E. Álvaro Cedeño Molinari, Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the WTO
Speaker to provide a high-level overview contextualising where trade policies and countries’ WTO commitments fit alongside national legal and regulatory choices to facilitate pro-development outcomes using digital payments and remittances. |
11:30 — 11:45 |
Coffee Break |
11:45 — 13:00 |
Session 2. How do digital payments facilitate financial inclusion especially in rural areas?
- Moderator: H.E. Roberto Zapata, Permanent Representative of Mexico to the WTO
- Mr. Ali Sarfraz, CEO Karandaz, an initiative for Digital economy and Financial Inclusion
Presentation
- Mrs. Dorothee Delort, Senior Financial Infrastructures Specialist, World Bank.
Presentation
- Mr. Juan Marchetti, Trade in Services Division, WTO
Presentation
This session will explore the link between the use of mobile-enabled payment systems in remote areas, especially in LDCs, and how new payments models support financial inclusion through applications like using mobile money to pay for small value physical goods at the village level, and online remittance applications that bring the unbanked families of overseas workers into financial relationships. Which trade rules support payments systems? What barriers do services see in providing services in their home markets, and what barriers impact their ability to serve non-domestic customers buying or sending funds to domestic customers. |
13:00 — 15:00 |
Lunch break — informal, buffet-style outside the meeting room |
15:00 — 16:15 |
Session 3. The role of statistics in payments and financial inclusion policy development.
- Moderator: H.E. Juan Carlos González, Permanent Representative of Colombia to the WTO
- Mr. Michael Ferrantino, Lead Economist and Global Product Specialist for Trade Policy and Integration, World Bank
Presentation
- Mr. Torbjorn Fredriksson, Chief, ICT Analysis Section, Science, Technology and ICT Branch
Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD and eTrade for All Initiative.
Presentation
This session will give an overview of the existing initiatives to improve digital economy statistics in the area of payments and mobile money and solicit views from participants on what, if any, additional data points would help them understand their national situation and the trade and non-trade related policy priorities they should consider. |
16:15 — 17:30 |
Session 4. Inward Investment and Localisation: What Attracts Digital Financial Service Providers to Offer Services in Developing Economies?
- Moderator: H.E. Gustavo Vanerio, Permanent Representative of Uruguay to the WTO
- Mrs. Maeve Quigley, Business Development, Ingenico ePayments
Presentation
- Mr. Gustavo Bako, Senior Manager, Payments and Fraud, GoEuro
- Mrs. Mina Mashayekhi, Head, Trade Negotiations and Commercial Diplomacy Branch
Division on International Trade in Goods and Services and Commodities (DITC), UNCTAD
Presentation
Explores what payments processors, non-bank financial services, and consumer and SME-facing payments services look for when they are deciding which new markets to invest and operate in. The session will highlight the minimum legal frameworks and trade commitments these firms need for regulatory compliance purposes in their home markets, and how essential it is that national regulatory choices foster competitive markets in such services.
This session will also look at how payments operators price risk, what factors determine risk profiles, and the result this has on the fees paid by consumers and MSMEs via their in-country financial intermediaries. It will also explore what can be done to reduce risk by national regulators (of both telecommunications and financial markets) and decision-makers and thereby make a country more attractive for services — both local and international — to operate. |
17:30 — 18:00 |
Wrap-Up and closing
- Mr. Frederick Agah, Deputy Director General, WTO
- H.E. Tauqir Shah, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the WTO
- Moderator: H.E. Stephen Karau, Permanent Representative of Kenya to the WTO
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