 Honourable Prime Minister of India, Srinarendra Modi ji, Honourable President of Sri Lanka, His Excellency Ranil Vikram Singh, Honourable Prime Minister of Mauritius, Bank of Mauritius, Honourable Ministers, Excellencies and Distinguished Guests, Namaskar. It gives me great pleasure to welcome all today to this special event to witness the launch of UPI services in Sri Lanka and Mauritius and Rupay Card in Mauritius. We begin today's event by screening a short video on UPI and Rupay Card services that are being launched today. Since 2014, under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Srinarendra Modi, the digital payment landscape in India has been revolutionised. UPI has made life easier for millions in India and put the country at the forefront of digital payments worldwide. UPI achieved a significant milestone by crossing 100 billion transactions in 2023 with almost 400 million transactions daily, reaffirming its position as a preferred mode of digital transactions in the country. India and Sri Lanka are close maritime neighbours with a legacy of historical, intellectual, cultural and linguistic ties. During the visit of President Ranil Vikram Singhhe to New Delhi in July 2023, both leaders adopted the India-Sri Lanka Economic Partnership vision document aimed at enhancing connectivity in all dimensions including fintech connectivity, air connectivity and maritime connectivity as a key enabler for growth and economic prosperity. In addition to being Sri Lanka's largest trade partner, India is also one of the largest contributors to foreign direct investment in Sri Lanka. In recent years, the largest number of tourists visiting Sri Lanka are from India. In 2023, more than 300,000 Indian tourists travelled to Sri Lanka from India with guidance from the Reserve Bank of India and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Two pioneering companies, NPCI International Payments Limited and Lankapeh, Sri Lanka's National Payment Network, have set the stage for a historic journey through a groundbreaking collaboration. This will enable Indian tourists to experience the ease and convenience of transacting through UPI-powered apps while visiting Sri Lanka. Let us see how they can make QR code-based merchant payments enabled by Lankapeh. Indian citizens should activate UPI-Global or UPI-International on their UPI-powered apps before making QR code-based merchant payments in Sri Lanka. Scan the Lanka-QR, enter the amount, verify with UPI-PIN, the payment is successful for merchants in Sri Lanka. It opens doors to a broader customer base, allowing them to accept digital payments from Indian tourists, making business smoother than ever. Enjoy the beach, save a Sri Lankan cuisine and admire the architectural wonders. Reserve Bank of India and NIPL in collaboration with Central Bank of Sri Lanka and Lankapeh are connecting nations and fostering shared prosperity through digital payments. Indian Mauritius ties are rooted in strong commercial, cultural and people-to-people links. In recent years, both countries have been working to deepen digital and fintech connectivity, leading to new possibilities for collaboration and growth. Today, there are over 20,000 Indian residents in Mauritius. In the last five years, India has been amongst the leading trading partners of Mauritius. The implementation of the Metro Express light rail transit supported by India is one of the latest major developments in Mauritius. To add to this, Reserve Bank of India and Bank of Mauritius have collaborated to facilitate UPI-QR code-based payment solution and rupee card acceptance in both Mauritius and India. Around 75,000 Indian tourists visit Mauritius in a year. Let us see how they can make QR code-based merchant payments. To start using UPI, simply download a preferred UPI-powered app from the App Store or Play Store. Indian citizens should activate UPI Global or UPI International on their UPI-powered apps before making QR code-based merchant payments in Mauritius. Similarly, around 30,000 Mauritian citizens travel to India in a year. Let us see how they can make QR code-based payments. Download the preferred app from the App Store or Play Store. Click the India QR payments option and scan the QR. Enter a month. Review and confirm with an OTP. The payment is done and they can download the payment receipt. Rupee cards issued in India will now be accepted in Mauritius. Also, banks in Mauritius will be using the Rupee Switch network to issue the rupee cards to their customers. These cards can be used to withdraw cash through ATMs and make payments at point-of-sale terminals in both Mauritius and India. This feature will be live with the participating members, UPI and Rupee, connecting India and Mauritius through seamless digital payments. I now invite dignitaries to witness the first UPI transaction conducted by an Indian national in Sri Lanka. We shall now witness the first UPI transaction conducted by an Indian national in Mauritius. I now request Honourable Prime Minister of Mauritius, His Excellency Praveet Jagannath, to kindly deliver his remarks. Sri Narayan Ramu DG, Prime Minister of the Republic of India, His Excellency Mr. Ranil Vikram Singh, President of Sri Lanka, Colleague Ministers, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Mr. Harbish Sigulam, Governor of the Bank of Mauritius, the Board Members of the Bank of Mauritius, Governors and Executives of Central Banks, Seniors of Banks, Distinguished Guests from Mauritius, India and Sri Lanka. Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon to our dear friends in India and Sri Lanka. Allow me first of all to convey warm and fraternal greetings to His Excellency Sri Narayan Ramu DG and His Excellency Mr. Ranil Vikram Singh, who are amongst us this morning for the e-launch of the Roupe card and UPI projects. It gives me great pleasure to join you all on this milestone occasion. The Roupe card, co-branded with our national famous switch, the MOCAS, will be designated as the domestic card in Mauritius. India and Mauritius share strong cultural, commercial, and people-to-people linkages, which date back to centuries ago. And today, we are giving yet another dimension to this relationship. One of the highlights of the G20 meeting under the Indian presidency was the commitment to improve access to digital services and digital public infrastructure and leverage digital transformation opportunities to boost sustainable and inclusive growth. Mauritius has already embarked on its digital transformation journey. A key highlight of this journey is an efficient, fast, and cheap payment system. The Bank of Mauritius has been at the frontier of the development of payment systems to promote orderly and balanced economic development. The Bank of Mauritius established the Port risk clearinghouse in 1968 to facilitate clearing of checks, which was a manual process at that time. To give the advent of technology in the payments domain, the Bank modernized payment infrastructures through the implementation of a real-time gross settlement system, the Mauritius automated clearing and settlement system in December 2009. In 2009, the Mauritius automated clearing and settlement system was upgraded to a more resilient architecture, which also supports multi-currency transactions. It was the first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa. This upgrade was followed by the completion of the automation of the Port risk clearinghouse in 2011, enabling clearing of checks through electronic images and low-value electronic transactions. These infrastructures simplified payment processes and reduced costs and time of transactions in a more secure environment. With the advent of digitalization globally, the Bank had to introduce a set of regulations to provide an appropriate framework for the development of these modes of payments. The National Payments Systems Act 2018 was proclaimed in January 2019. Simultaneously, the Bank of Mauritius launched a state-of-the-art digital hub known as the Mauritius Central Automated Switch, MOCAS, a real-time payment system for routing payments among operators on a 24-7 basis for instant mobile transactions, as well as domestic card transactions. This innovative digital platform has revolutionized the payment landscape in Mauritius with a vibrant ecosystem of private bank and non-bank payment service providers, which is driving innovation and fintech development. Tech firms are leveraging on the MOCAS platform to provide value-added services, thus allowing banks to collaborate with providers of emerging technologies. Changing customer behavior and growing demand for digital products, alongside with rapidly evolving technology, are driving a shift to digital payments. The Bank has transformed the domestic payment landscape into an enabling environment for new operators, new services, and new products. Leveraging on its payment ecosystem, the Bank of Mauritius has taken the modernization of the payment infrastructure to a higher level, with the collaboration of the National Bank Payment Corporation of India and the Reserve Bank of India, and this marks a new chapter in the history of payments in Mauritius. The Bank of Mauritius has a cross-border payment strategy to enter into bilateral agreements with payment schemes of jurisdictions with which Mauritius has strong commercial relationships. The first project has been realized with the National Payment Corporation of India for retail payments through rupee cards and mobile phones by connecting the MOCAS with the Indian Switch. With this arrangement, Indians visiting Mauritius can effect payments by scanning merchant UPI QR codes with their mobile apps, and likewise, Mauritians can use their mobile apps in India. Payments will not only be instantaneous, they will also be made in foreign currencies directly from payments, from payers, bank accounts denominated in their domestic currencies, and settlement will be done through direct conversion between the currencies of our two countries. This will eliminate the need for third currencies. Payments will therefore be faster, cheaper, and more secure. The partnership between MOCAS and the National Payment Corporation of India provides a platform for innovative and competitive payment instruments for the benefit of both our populations. I wish that this burgeoning collaboration in the domain of payments between India and Mauritius will continue to thrive. Thank you. Thank you. Excellency. I would now request to Honourable President of Sri Lanka, His Excellency Ranil Vikram Singhe, to kindly deliver his remarks on this occasion. Prime Minister Modi, Prime Minister Angarath, and distinguished officials who are gathered here today. It's an important occasion for us. For you, Prime Minister Modi, it's a second important occasion because I must congratulate you for the opening of the Ram Mandir just a few weeks ago. This shows our connections both economically and culturally. For thousands of years, payments have taken place between our two countries and at that time, fortunately, they have no central banks. But in fact, our museums hold a number of coins, South Indian coins, of over 1,000 years old, which have been found in different parts of villages or the dry zone, an indication that the South Indian trading corporations were very active even in the villages. So what we are doing today is only upgrading it technologically. You no longer have coins. You have Lanka QR and the NIPL together. And certainly as more and more Indian tourists with Sri Lanka, this will be used in every village in our country. Furthermore, the transactions that go on between Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka and Mumbai of such scale, that this certainly is of valuable use to us, especially to the merchants, we have about, I think, 400,000 who are now engaged in this. So I look at this as an important part of the developing further connectivity between our two countries. We have, as it is, the vision statement that Prime Minister and I issued when I was in Delhi is being implemented. I had a discussion with Foreign Minister, Foreign Minister, Mr. Jaishankar the other day in Perth, and we are satisfied with the progress that's been made. And we hope to carry on with that momentum, there were exchangers yesterday also that we hope we'll carry on with that momentum, maintain the momentum so that we can certainly identify other areas of connectivity. To me, it's also certainly reason for happiness that through this scheme, we are taking part together with Mauritius in the same exercise, in the same transactions because both of our island states and there has been historical connections between our two countries. And Sri Lanka looks forward to having closer relations with Mauritius. And certainly I've discussed again with your Foreign Minister again in Perth of how we could go ahead. So I don't want to take any more of the time, but I want to thank you Prime Minister for initiating this venture. Thank you. Thank you, Excellency. I would now request Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modiji to kindly address this special event. Your Excellency, President Ranil Vikram Singhye, Your Excellency, Prime Minister Praveen Jagannath Ji, Bharat Ke Videsh Mantri, Dr. Jaishankar Ji, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Bharat Ke Central Bank's Governor, and today, all the partners connected with these important events, the three countries of the Indian Ocean region, today is a special day. Bharat's Unified Payments Interface, meaning UPI, and the new right is being led by uniting partners with India. Friends, from the digital public infrastructure in India, a revolutionary change has come. In our small villages and small factories, digital payments are being made, because it has the same speed as in the previous years. Over the last few years, the record for UPI has been more than Rs. 100 billion in transactions. The value of UPI is Rs. 2 lakh crore, meaning Rs. 8 trillion, and Rs. 1 trillion Mauritius is more than Rs. 1 trillion. And trinity, meaning bank account, Aadhar, and mobile phone, we are delivering a last mile. From this system to now, Rs. 34 lakh crore, meaning more than Rs. 400 billion, has been collected in the bank account of the Indians. In India, due to the COVID pandemic, the biggest vaccination program has been launched. Technology is increasing, transparency is increasing, the economy is decreasing, the society is increasing, inclusivity is increasing, and people's government is increasing. Friends, the policy of India is Neighborhood First. Our maritime vision is the sea, the sea means security and growth for all in the region. Our goal is to keep peace, security and growth in the whole region. India does not see its development as different from its neighbors. With Sri Lanka, connectivity is being strengthened in every region. Last year, during the trip to India, we had a vision document, to increase the connectivity of the nation. It is a joy that we have fulfilled this task today. Prime Minister Jagannath was also talking about business last year, in the G20 summit you were our special guest, I am sure that with the cooperation of Sri Lanka and Mauritius with the UPI Pranali, both the countries will also benefit. The digital transformation will be fast, there will be a great increase in local means. There will be an increase in tourism among our countries. I am also sure that Indian tourists will also benefit from the UPI destinations. I am happy that in Asia, Nepal, Bhutan, Singapore and in the Gulf, we will be able to increase the connectivity of Sri Lanka and Mauritius with the help of the U.P.I. and the U.P.K.A.R. In time, we will be able to increase cross-border remittances, i.e. person-to-person, P2P payment facility. 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We will be able to increase the connectivity of Sri Lanka and Mauritius with the help of the U.P.I. We will be able to increase the connectivity of Sri Lanka and Mauritius with the help of the U.P.I. We will be able to increase the connectivity of Sri Lanka and Mauritius with the help of the U.P.I. We will be able to increase the connectivity of Sri Lanka and Mauritius with the help of the U.P.I.