The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Saturday voted unanimously to adopt India’s proposal for developing digital public infrastructure (DPI) as the right way for deploying digital technology, a senior government official said.

“The Digital Ministers of SCO member states met today. This DPI is very important from the perspective of having completion, making sure that technology is democratized and making sure of digitally inclusive growth among member states,” the official said.

The SCO is an eight-nation organisation which counts China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as its members.

During the meeting on Saturday, member nations of the SCO also agreed to look at the possibility of setting up an organisation which will decide common standards for the interoperability of digital systems being developed by each country, the official said.

In the meeting, chaired by India, the union minister for electronics and information technology Ashwini Vaishnaw also suggested that the time was ripe for nations across the world to create an apt regulatory environment for artificial intelligence.

“I would urge all fellow members of SCO to assess, evaluate and adopt India Stack and benefit from this digital public infrastructure,” Vaishnaw told member nations, the ministry official said.

In his proposal, Vaishnaw also urged member nations to support the adoption of India’s digital public infrastructure services such as Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, and Cowin, the government official said. DPI or digital public infrastructure are blocks or platforms built either by private or government agencies with government support. These platforms are meant to deliver essential services in the digital space.

India’s DPI has received raving reviews from several international organisations including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which said that the country was able to quickly provide support to an impressive share of poor households during the COVID-19 pandemic due to its resilient DPI.

In a paper released in April, the IMF said that the government played a catalytic role, acting as an anchor client and establishing institutions to ensure continuity in India Stack’s operations.

“Together they enable online, paperless, cashless, and privacy-respecting digital access to a variety of public and private services. The benefit of this investment is felt across the country and served India well during the pandemic,” the paper said.

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