The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, is hosting an annual meeting of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), promoting the use and adoption of Bitcoin to 32 central bankers and 12 financial sector leaders from emerging markets.
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The event, which runs Monday through Wednesday, will address issues such as financial inclusion and the digital economy, said Bukele, who added that the benefits of El Salvador becoming the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as legal tender last year will be discussed.
Participating countries include Paraguay, Haiti, Honduras, Costa Rica and Ecuador from Latin America; Angola, Ghana, Namibia and Uganda from Africa; and Bangladesh, Palestine and Pakistan from Asia.
AFI, which has resumed in-person meetings after a two-year pandemic, is currently holding the annual meetings of its Digital Financial Services Working Group and its Small and Medium Enterprise Finance Working Group in El Salvador, the organization said.
"El Salvador, which joined the AFI network in 2012, has made significant progress in using digital financial services to promote the financial inclusion of individuals and small businesses," Eliki Boletawa, AFI director of programs and policy implementation, said in a statement.
El Salvador's attempt to promote Bitcoin in developing countries comes amid a dispute with the International Monetary Fund, which in January recommended the Central American country suspend the use of Bitcoin as legal tender because of the financial risks and liabilities involved.
In March, El Salvador's Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya said the country had postponed the planned issuance of $1 billion worth of Bitcoin bonds due to unfavorable market conditions.
This article was translated by Marina Lammertyn.