Ceremony Held for Central Bank Digital Currency Demonstration Experiment

On the 28^th of November, a ceremony was held between the Central Bank of Solomon Islands and the Japanese company Solamitsu Corporation to celebrate the “Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Proof of Concept Pilot Project”. From the Solomon Islanders side, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, the Governor of the Central Bank Luke Folau, and the Minister of Finance and Treasury  Harry Kuma, from Japanese side, Ambassador MIWA Yoshiaki, Cabinet Counselor IKEDA Mitsuru, Group CEO of Solamitsu HoldingTAKEMIYA Makoto, and in a video message WATANABE Ken Chief Representative of JICA Solomon Islands participated in this ceremony. Prime Minister Sogavare congratulated the Government of Japan and the project’s stakeholders for their commitment and expressed his hope that the project would provide a secure and accessible financial trading environment for all, thereby improving the quality of life of the people and the development of the country. Ambassador Miwa said that Japan actively promotes economic cooperation, infrastructure development, and private investment in pursuit of realizing a ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP)’emphasizing the importance of Japan’s contribution to Solomon Islands as well as Pacific Islands countries’ financial infrastructure sector, especially the digitalization of the sector.Following the ceremony, the 38^th Pacific Central Bank Governors Meeting held, to which Cabinet Counselor IKEDA Mitsuru, Group CEO of TAKEMIYA Makoto and other Japanese members related to the project were invited and exchanged views with governors of Pacific Central Banks.