AMN/ WEB DESK
In Nepal, a seminar on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) was organised in Kathmandu to drive innovation in the digital economy with a special emphasis on India-Nepal digital connectivity. The seminar was organised in association with UNDP Nepal and the Institute for Integrated Development Studies with the support of Nepal Rastra Bank.
Drawing from India’s best practices and other global and regional experience with DPI, this seminar provided a detailed overview of the use cases of DPI to more than 200 government officials, industry, startups, academia and other stakeholders from Nepal.
Addressing the opening plenary, Naveen Srivastava, Ambassador of India to Nepal, highlighted the emphasis on DPI under India’s G20 Presidency and the G20 Framework for Systems of Digital Public Infrastructure, a voluntary and suggested framework for DPI. He explained how digital technology can help countries leapfrog development milestones. Rekha Sharma, Minister for Communication and Information Technology, emphasised Nepal’s commitment to adopting digital technologies and advised officials of India and Nepal to cooperate in the field of technology.
The keynote address by Dr. Pramod Varma, Co-chair, of the Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure and ex-chief Architect, UIDAI, outlined the DPI approach to creating inclusive and sustainable economic development with examples from India such as Unified Payments Interface, Digi Yatra, DPIs for tax, Account Aggregators and Open Network for Digital Commerce.