. in kader mia ’ s case, the price he had to pay for his economic “ unfreedom ” was death. this is why we are here – to do our part to help many, like kader mia, who remain shackled by their circumstances, achieve economic freedom. this forum seeks to address not just the question of facilitating transfers more efficiently, but how to make such transfers go further and do more to meet today ’ s most pressing global challenges – from access to healthcare and education, equal economic opportunity for all, to protection of the environment. without addressing these challenges, economic freedom would remain an elusive dream for 1 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches many. this forum will cover a broad range of issues – not all of which will have clear solutions. but we will most certainly learn more, understand better and hopefully, be able to determine what our next steps must be. with that in view, let me take this opportunity to offer some brief reflections on what those steps might be. reinvigorating financial services to drive the sdgs first, we need to do more to reinvigorate financial services to drive the united nations sustainable development goals ( sdgs ). many countries in this region, including malaysia, have made important progress in the adoption of the sdgs under the national development agenda. certainly, malaysia has had a long - standing commitment to the pursuit of sustainable and inclusive growth. malaysia ’ s national economic development policies adopted since more than four decades ago reflect many of the sdgs. like many central banks in this region, financial inclusion is an important priority of bank negara malaysia – one that is in fact legislated as a mandate of the central bank, which is actually not all that common in many countries. because it is a statutory mandate of the central bank in malaysia, it has enabled bank negara to lead and drive the financial inclusion agenda with the support of our key domestic partners and stakeholders. with growing global concerns over rising inequality and the disproportionate impact of crises on the poor, there has been considerable focus by governments and policymakers to ensure that no segment of society is left behind in participating and benefitting from the nation ’ s development. but what of the role of the financial services industry? it is worth noting that 14 out of the 17 sdgs include specific targets that focus at some level on the financial sector. to mention a few : on poverty : the sdgs include a specific target to build resilience

intaglio by no means is the only security feature. there are many more watermark, electrotype numeral, see - through register mark, windowed colour shifting security threads with texts, hologram stripe, gold patch, to name a few, are among the basic security features that we should know on our currency notes. all this features can be easily be verified or authenticated using the “ fltc ” method, that is to feel, look, tilt and check without using sophisticated devices. indeed, it will take only a few seconds to authenticate our currency notes. for example, to apply the simplest “ look ” technique, what is needed is only for us to hold the currency notes against a light. this will allow us to verify simultaneously at least four important security features in all of our currency notes ; the 3d agong ’ s watermark, bright electrotype numeral, perfectly register see - through mark or windowed colour shifting security threads with texts. this technique is the easiest and the simplest manner as no special gadget is required. coupled with a few other techniques contained in the my ringgit apps we can make a firm conclusion on the authenticity of the currency notes. bis central bankers ’ speeches similarly, our new coins are also sufficiently protected by unique security features. in the course of designing the coins, the bank had engaged with various stakeholders to ensure that the new coins are not only practical but sufficiently protected as well. each coin denomination is unique in term of size and security features to ensure no fake coins can pass through the coin authentication machines. as part of our financial education effort, bank negara today is launching a mobile application called my ringgit. this application enables the general public to learn about the most practical and easiest techniques to authenticate our currencies and learn in greater detail the security features found in our currency notes. there are numerous security features but fortunately, we need to know only a few major ones to enable us to tell the difference between genuine and counterfeit notes. it would be in our interest to download and use this application so that we are able to differentiate a genuine and a counterfeit note. in the process, we will get to know and appreciate better our unique characteristics of the design and security features of our currencies. the my ringgit application also contains useful information on the locations of the coin deposit machines of participating institutions throughout malaysia. users of this app will also receive a “ push notification ” message from time to time on news relevant