The Centre for Excellence in Financial Inclusion (CEF) and the PNG National Research Institute (PNGNRI) today officiated a research collaboration.
The memorandum of understanding signed today between CEFI and PNG NRI aims to consolidate and strengthen cooperation between the institutions.
Present to officiate the agreement was Executive Director for CEFI, Saliya Ranasinghe and Acting Director for PNG NRI, Dr. Osborne Sanida.
The newly formed partnership now enables new research grounds into the country’s economic and social development. The research will place special emphasis on the role of education in development.
Since its establishment in 2013, CEFI has been responsible for the development and implementation of effective financial strategies. CEFI’s Executive Director says this partnership with PNG NRI is a step in the right direction.
Ranasinghe said, “…and I feel the research has to play a very important role in giving us the direction we should take to have better impact on the strategies that we are adopting, and that’s why we feel the National Research Institute partnership is a very, very important thing for CEFI.”
“The main areas of this agreement between CEFI and NRI will be on researching the impact of Financial Inclusion Activities, Digital Finance Services, Financial Literacy and Financial Education, Micro Insurance, SME and Agriculture Lending,” said Ranasinghe.
He added, “We really feel that we should fine tune these financial education and literacy and change the lives of the people as well as children for the future.”
Dr. Osborne Sanida said, “NRI as a policy think-tank in PNG looks forward to working closely with CEFI to provide practical solutions to financial inclusion constraints, and contribute evidence-based solutions to improve financial literacy inclusivity for all Papua New Guineans.”
The MoU signed today is effective from this date forward and will be renewed every five years between the institutions.