Good morning.
It is a great pleasure for me to join you this morning as we open the 2026 AFI Global Policy Forum.
On behalf of the AFI Board, I would like to express our deep appreciation to our co-host, the Bank of Papua New Guinea, for the generous hospitality, excellent organization and outstanding dedication that have made this week insightful and inspiring. We thank you for welcoming us so warmly in your beautiful country.
I would like to also express our sincere appreciation to the members of our network - 90 institutions across 84 countries. Through your unwavering commitment, you continue to make AFI a unique network, united by a shared commitment to inclusive financial systems across all continents.
I am equally pleased to acknowledge the presence and contributions of our partners and all those whose commitment continues to strengthen AFI’s work.
To the AFI Management Unit, we know your hard work these past 12 months has been incredibly meaningful, in spite of an uncertain and constrained environment. We thank you.
Hon. Deputy Prime Minister,
Distinguished guests,
This year’s theme “Resilient Economies, Inclusive Future” speaks directly to the moment in which we find ourselves. We are living through a period of profound and accelerating transformation. Artificial intelligence, digital public infrastructure, climate change, cyber risks, demographic shifts and evolving economic models are reshaping the way our economies function and how financial systems serve people.
These changes bring real and complex challenges. Yet, they also present a once-in-a-generation opportunity for developing and emerging economies, to harness technological progress, innovation and climate resilience as drivers of broader and more inclusive prosperity.
Our task is therefore not simply to respond to change, it is to shape it through building financial systems that are more adaptive, innovative and trusted, while ensuring that progress creates opportunities for everyone.
This requires us to recognize that financial inclusion today is about much more than access to financial services. It is increasingly central to economic resilience, financial stability, financial health and sustainable development.
Inclusive financial systems can help households withstand shocks, enable small businesses to grow, support women and young people to participate more fully in the economy, and help societies adapt to the realities of a rapidly changing world.
For close to 20 years, the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) has provided a unique platform for this work. Our strength has always been our members, and our approach has always been country-led. Through peer learning, practical cooperation and the exchange of experience, AFI has helped translate policy commitments into concrete reforms that have touched the lives of millions of people.
But the challenges ahead demand that we continue to evolve, helping policymakers anticipate emerging risks, harness digital innovation, and deliver measurable outcomes for households, communities and small businesses, while recognizing inclusion as integral to resilience and stability.
Papua New Guinea provides an important example of how determination and innovation can help overcome significant geographic and connectivity challenges to advance digital financial services and inclusive green finance.
This forum also provides an important opportunity to elevate the perspectives of Small Island Developing States and other vulnerable economies, whose experiences underscore that financial inclusion requires locally grounded solutions, supported by global cooperation, to address challenges such as climate vulnerability, geographic remoteness, natural disasters, correspondent banking and access to sustainable finance.
The symbolism of this forum is also fitting. The GPF 2026 logo, inspired by Papua New Guinea’s Bird of Paradise, speaks to identity, continuity and interconnectedness. Its flowing circular design is a powerful reminder that, while our members come from different countries and regions, we are connected by a shared purpose to build financial ecosystems in which no one is left behind.
Over the next two days, our discussion will focus on the challenges policymakers are facing today: how to keep financial systems stable while protecting consumers, how to expand sustainable finance, how to use emerging technologies like artificial intelligence responsibly, and how to prepare for long-term risks such as cyber threats and demographic change.
Distinguished guests,
This year also marks an important milestone, ten years since the Denarau Action Plan, which placed gender-inclusive finance at the heart of our collective agenda.
A decade on, our commitment must be renewed with even greater determination. Women’s economic empowerment requires more than access. It requires better data, stronger policy frameworks and financial systems designed to respond to the realities and needs of women and women-owned businesses.
The true measure of this Forum will not be the quality of our discussions alone, it will be what we do afterwards.
GPF 2026 must be a forum that translates dialogue into action. It must generate practical commitments, partnerships and policy solutions that can be implemented by our members. Among the important outcomes before us is the Inclusive Green Finance Global Compact, which represents a unified effort to mobilize and scale policy and financing for climate-vulnerable, small and frontier economies.
Whether we are in Port Moresby, San Salvador, Swakopmund, Kigali or Colombo, climate resilience must be at the center of our policies.
Looking ahead, our responsibility is clear. We must build financial systems capable of withstanding shocks while expanding opportunity, systems that embrace innovation while protecting consumers, systems that support economic growth while safeguarding our planet, and, above all, systems that are genuinely inclusive.
If we succeed, resilience and inclusion will not be competing objectives. They will reinforce one another. That is the promise of our theme: Resilient Economies, Inclusive Future.
Let us use this Forum to learn from one another, to challenge conventional thinking, to forge stronger partnerships and to move with purpose from policy to action.
Together, we can ensure that the financial systems of the future are not only stronger and more innovative, but also fairer, more sustainable and more responsive to the needs of all our people.
Thank you for your kind attention.