The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) is organising a two-day conference under Alliance Financial Inclusion (AFI) to discuss financial services access to global populations.

A statement issued by the BoT in Dar es Salaam at the weekend said the conference which will draw more than 100 participants from various parts of the world would be held in Zanzibar, this being the first time.

The statement urged delegates to obtain visa from their resident countries to facilitate travel arrangements for the conference scheduled to kick off on March 1.

However not all delegates are required to obtain visa, the statement issued names of nations whose invited participants are not obliged to get entry visa. They include Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Swaziland and Botswana.

Experts say several countries will use the forum to deliberate on how countries would embark on new initiatives to expand financial services to larger populations.

At a similar conference held in Mexico last year, the Maya Declaration on Financial Inclusion was signed at the conclusion of the forum.

Tanzania pledged to raise its financial access level to 50 percent of its population by 2015 through mobile banking and other initiatives at the forum.

Other countries which made their commitments were Kenya, Zambia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Burundi, Pakistan, Fiji and the Philippines.

The AFI Executive Director Alfred Hannig was quoted as saying developing countries took important steps to create home-grown policies and launch initiatives to reduce one of the most significant barriers to global economic growth.

“The result could be to empower hundreds of millions of people to join the formal financial sector in the years ahead," he said.

An estimated 2.5 billion people – over half the world's adult population – do not have access to formal financial services, which can include banking, savings, insurance, credit or pensions.

The Maya Declaration recognizes the important role financial inclusion policy has toward improving global financial stability, fighting poverty and contributing to balanced and sustainable growth across the developing world, according to economic analysts.

The declaration commits countries to create and implement regulatory frameworks that balance inclusion, stability and integrity.