Abuja — A Global Remittance Forum to assess trends in remittance to Africa amid the financial crisis organised by the International Fund for Agricultural development (IFAD) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) opens today in Tunis, Tunisia.

Spokesperson of IFAD at Tunis Francis Kennedy told Daily Trust in an online interview that remittances have proven to be more reliable than international aid in recent years but are now reducing due to the global economic crunch.

"Remittances are way under achieving their potential to help poor people especially" she said, but that governments have a strong role to play in creating an enabling environment for remittances inflow.

The major aim of the conferences is to discuss the way forward in achieving a 50% cost reduction on remittances especially in Africa which has recently attracted global attention in terms of remittances.

Earlier at the G8 meeting in July this year, world leaders agreed to target a 50% cost reduction on remittance over a five year period by promoting a friendly, competitive and enabling environment free of unnecessary barriers.