MUMBAI/ LUCKNOW, 13 FEBRUARY, 2023 (GPN): The first Digital Economy Working Group (DEWG) meeting under India’s G20 Presidency began in Lucknow on Monday, with India stressing on building a strong Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem among the G20 member countries.

The first day of the three-day meeting, being hosted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, saw a workshop on ‘Digital Public Infrastructure: Sharing Experiences in the Implementation of Digital Identity in Different Countries’. Other discussion themes included, ‘Sharing Cyber Security Solutions for MSMEs’, ‘Focusing on Digital Public Infrastructure to Promote Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals’ and ‘Geospatial Applications for Infrastructure and Product Development in the Digital Economy’. A workshop was also held on ‘Utilization of Technologies’.

In addition to the meetings, the digital initiatives of the state of Uttar Pradesh were showcased during an exhibition before the G20 members. The meeting began with the inaugural speech by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. During this, CM Yogi said that digital technology is the need of the day and the speed with which work has been done in this field in India has set a unique example in front of the world. He said, “Pension to pensioners and scholarship to students are also given through this medium in the state. For the past years, the vision of the respected Prime Minister is working in a transparent manner in taking India forward together with everyone on the global platform.” He said that the country is moving forward in the field of digital economy. Referring to the benefits of digitization, he said that now emphasis will be laid on fast implementation of this model from agriculture to logistics and e-commerce.

Along with 141 delegates from member countries, guests from 33 countries are also participating in the meeting. The objective of the DEWG meeting is to create digital global alliances needed to handle geopolitical conflicts and better services for the people. This working group was formed in 2017 as part of Germany’s G20 Presidency with the aim of promoting the implementation of a secure, interconnected and inclusive digital economy.

Currently the global digital economy is US$11 trillion, which is expected to reach US$23 trillion by 2025. The DEWG plays a key role in shaping the global policy dialogue in the digital space. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has said in a statement that India is looking to partner with other countries to build a robust UPI ecosystem, which will allow Indians to use the UPI platform for payments abroad.Ends