Regional Grouping SCO Adopts India's Proposal On Digital Public Infrastructure

Inter-governmental body Shanghai Cooperation Organization members, which includes China and Pakistan, have unanimously adopted India's proposal for developing Digital Public Infrastructure, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday.

India has developed Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) like unified payment interface, Aadhaar etc to make services available to people in a convenient manner.

"The Digital Ministers of SCO member states met today and unanimously adopted India's proposal for developing Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) as the right way for deploying digital technology among member states," Vaishnaw said.

The SCO comprises eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), four Observer States interested in acceding to full membership (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia) and six 'Dialogue Partners' (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey).

Vaishnaw said DPI is very important from the perspective of having completion, making sure that technology is democratised and making sure of digitally inclusive growth among member states.

"There was also a need felt for interoperability between different systems being developed by the member states and the body recognized the need for setting up an organization for setting common standards for interoperability of digital systems among member states," Vaishnaw said.

The government has started reaching out to several countries to offer them technology stack as part of its responsibility as G20 Presidency without any fee and expects Indian startups and system integrators to gain from the exercise.

India has already signed a pact with over a dozen countries for UPI adoption.

Currently, BHIM UPI QR has already gained acceptance in Singapore, UAE, Mauritius, Nepal and Bhutan.

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