G20 should promote digital ID at individual, enterprise & farm levels: B20 India Communique

Will the G20 once again rubber-stamp B20 policy recommendations on digital ID? perspective

The Business 20 (B20) India Communique recommends that Group of 20 (G20) nations should promote interoperable digital identities at the individual, enterprise, and farm levels.

Following the B20 India Summit last weekend, the leaders of the B20 published their annual communique, with a section dedicated to what they call digital public infrastructure (DPI) rollouts.

Although the communique does not define DPI, and in fact calls on G20 nations to develop a definition for it, we know that it has to do with digital identity, financial services, and mobile services.

We know as much because India’s digital ID architect, Nandan Nilekani, told the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last April that those were the three tools of the new world during a panel called Digital Public Infrastructure: Stacking Up the Benefits.

“If you think, ‘what are the tools of the New World?‘ — Everybody should have a digital ID; everybody should have a bank account; everybody should have a smartphone. Then, anything can be done. Everything else is built on that”

Nandan Nilekani, IMF Spring Meetings, April 2023

Fast forward to August, and the B20 communique calls on G20 nations to rollout DPI, with the first policy action being to:

“Promote the digitization of identities at the individual, enterprise, and farm levels that are both interoperable and recognized across borders“

B20 India Communique, August 2023

As a key performance indicator (KPI) for digital ID rollouts, the B20 recommends:

“G20 nations to develop guidelines for unique single digital identification for MSME [micro, small and medium-sized enterprises] and individuals that can be securely accessed (based on consent) by different government and private stakeholders for identity verification and information access within 3 years”

B20 India Communique, August 2023

Notice that this digital identity is not just for identity verification, but is also for “governments and private stakeholders” to have access to other types of information about you, including your health records, business dealings, land use, consumption habits, and finances.

This type of digital identity is precisely what the World Economic Forum (WEF) has been pushing, and it is a major component of the so-called fourth industrial revolution that WEF founder and great reset architect Klaus Schwab says will lead to the fusion of our physical, biological, and digital identities.

 “This digital identity determines what products, services and information we can access – or, conversely, what is closed off to us“

World Economic Forum, 2018

“G20 nations to develop a framework to digitize the agricultural value chain to enhance credit access by leveraging alternate farm/ livelihood data within 3 years”

B20 India Communique, 2023

Other DPI policy actions recommended in the B20 India Communique have to do with digital payment systems, data flows, technology standards, and public-private partnerships — the fusion of corporation and state — which is the modus operandi of the WEF.

• Policy action 2.2: Encourage the development of DPI with safeguards for seamless delivery of public services.
  • KPIs: Private sector and G20 governments to develop a definition of DPI and a list of DPI use cases that showcase global examples of DPI within 2 years.
  • Within 2 years, G20 nations to adopt a governance framework for DPI based on the following core principles: targeted scoping, transparent governance, privacy and trust, equal access, commercial sustainability, and multi-stakeholder standard setting.
  • G20 nations to develop the guidelines for safeguarding the consumer/beneficiary data in the DPI within 2 years.
• Policy action 2.3: Encourage collaborations between the public and private sectors to enable digital payments and promote last-mile financial inclusion.
  • KPIs: Financial Services regulators from the G20 nations to agree on a framework that incentivizes private sector participation in enhancing digital payments within 2 years.
  • G20 nations to develop a concrete vision document for boosting acceptance of digital and online payments in low-connectivity areas within 3 years.
• Policy action 2.4: Encourage the free data flow between financial institutions and consumers through a dedicated consent architecture.
  • KPIs: G20 governments agree to host an innovation symposium exploring private and public efforts to promote data sharing (open banking, account aggregator framework, etc.) and define best practices within 1 year.
• Policy action 2.5: Promote interoperability among multiple technologies, and regulatory and financial ecosystems, enabling all stakeholders to interact.
  • KPIs: G20 governments should lead a multi-stakeholder consultation process to define technology standards and frameworks that can help facilitate interoperability within 3 years.

“Roll out digital public infrastructure to boost financial inclusion and healthcare access“

B20 India Communique, August 2023

Last year’s B20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia called on G20 nations to adopt vaccine passports using WHO standards and to promote digital identity schemes.

Three days later, the G20 Bali Leaders Declaration was published, stating, “We support […] efforts to strengthen prevention and response to future pandemics that should capitalize and build on the success of the existing standards and digital COVID-19 certificates.”

This year’s B20 India Communique recommends that G20 nations develop digital ID frameworks for people, businesses, and farms within the next three years, with all data flowing freely across borders between powerful public and private entities.

Will the G20 once again rubber-stamp B20 policy recommendations on digital ID?

We’ll soon find out after the G20 India Summit concludes on September 10.

The B20 is the official G20 dialogue forum with the global business community, and it is tasked with formulating policy recommendations on designated issues.

The recommendations are then delivered to the G20 Presidency at the B20 Summit, which takes place around the G20 Summit.

The G20 is a forum comprising nineteen countries with some of the world’s largest economies, as well as the European Union.

The countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Spain is invited as a permanent guest, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.