Hosting an annual meeting of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele is promoting the use and adoption of Bitcoin to 32 central banks and 12 financial officials from emerging markets.
The event, which runs Monday through Wednesday, will address issues such as financial inclusion and the digital economy, as well as the benefits El Salvador has reaped from becoming the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender last year, according to Bukele.
Participating countries include Paraguay, Haiti, Honduras, Costa Rica and Ecuador in Latin America; Angola, Ghana, Namibia and Uganda in Africa; and Bangladesh, Palestine and Pakistan in Asia, according to Bukele.
AFI has resumed its face-to-face meetings after two years of the pandemic and is currently holding the annual meetings of its Digital Financial Services Working Group and Small and Medium Enterprise Finance Working Group in El Salvador, AFI said.
"El Salvador, which joined the AFI network in 2012, has made significant progress in using digital financial services to advance the financial inclusion of individuals and small businesses," Eliki Boletawa, AFI director of policy programs and implementation, said in a statement.
El Salvador's attempt to promote Bitcoin among developing countries comes amid a dispute with the International Monetary Fund, which recommended in January that the Central American country stop using Bitcoin as legal tender due to the financial risks and liabilities involved.
In March, El Salvador decided to postpone the planned issuance of $1 billion worth of Bitcoin bonds due to unfavorable market conditions, El Salvador's Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya said.