The National Workshop on “Regulatory Sandbox on Central Bank Digital Currency” Has Begun

 
Yesterday, the opening ceremony of the National Workshop on “Regulatory Sandbox on Central Bank Digital Currency” took place with Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Technology, Aminath Shauna attending the ceremony. Other notable attendees include the Governor of Maldives Monetory Authority (MMA) Mr. Ali Hashim and Chief Digital Government Branch, Division of Public Institutions & Digital Government, UN DESA, Mr Vincenzo Aquaro.

While giving her welcoming remarks, Minister of Environment, Climate Change & Technology, Aminath Shauna stated that the Government of Maldives is dedicated to lay the foundations to accelerate the digital development of the nation. She remarked that in particular a strong emphasis is given to establish digital government and unobstructed service delivery across all parts of the Maldives.

Digitalization is an important key strategy of the Government and is incorporated into the Administration’s agenda. The Administration is working to implement the digitalization agenda in close assistance with the Digital Government Branch of the Division for Public Institutions and Digital Government of UN DESA.

During her remarks, Minister Shauna noted that MMA is working with the Ministry to find ways to execute central bank digital currency system in the Maldives. She further added that the role of new frontier technologies in aiding sustainable development cannot be overlooked. In this regard she discussed the potential of Artificial Intelligence, Distributed Ledger Technologies, Drones and Virtual and Augmented reality in paving way for sustainable development.

The project aims to build capacity of institutions in terms of policy experimentation and regulatory sandboxes, inventing conclusive spaces to conduct experiments and trails with digital technologies and innovations. The regulatory sandbox will also pave way to develop drone technologies and can even expedite innovations in the energy sector. Through this project, the fundamental groundworks will be laid, paving way for the introduction of Digital Currency in the Maldives.