The Asian-Pacific Postal Union has praised the Bangladesh Postal Department's mobile money initiative Nagad, calling it the "fastest" growing digital financial service in the world, reports bdnews24.com.
The regional body, which consists of the postal departments of 32 member countries, held a remote meeting through virtual platforms on Thursday, Nagad said in an emailed statement.
Some member countries, including Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Japan, Iran and the Solomon Islands, expressed interest in replicating the initiative, according to the statement.
The groups also lauded the way in which Nagad had become the second largest DSF in Bangladesh in the year-and-a-half since its launch.
It also praised the private public partnership model and some participants at the meeting called it a role model for other postal departments.
"Nagad really came as a surprise for the member countries of the APPU and they were very curious to know the model and I am quite sure that some of them will derive to copy the service model for their survival," said Sudhangshu Shekhar Bhadra, director general of the postal directorate, who moderated the session.
"Nagad is our pride not only in Bangladesh, but also in the international arena and I am quite sure that those days will come when people will use Bangladesh and Nagad's name as the example of digital financial services."
"This type of appreciation will definitely encourage us to extend our service quality further and our target is to serve as many possible citizens of the country and include them in the regulator financial model," said Tanvir Ahmad Mishuk, managing director of Nagad.
"At Nagad we feel deeply touched to have uplifted the flag of our beloved Bangladesh in the international arena and to have shown them that Bangladesh's is no less competent in any way."
