Tunisia - Migrants Can Help Finance Development in Their Home Countries

20 April 2015
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United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Addis Ababa)
press release

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) office for North Africa will organize, in partnership with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) and the Ministry of Social Affairs of Tunisia, a meeting on the role of migrants' remittances in economic development, on 21-22 April 2015 in Tunis (Tunisia).

Tunisian State Secretary to the Minister of Social Affairs in charge of Immigration and Social Integration Mr Belgacem Sabri will chair this workshop.

Participants will focus on the potential impact of Tunisian migrants' savings and fund transfers on the economic development of their country of origin. Experts from North Africa and the Middle East will exchange regional experiences and good practices and discuss how migrants' savings and fund transfers can support economic and social development in their countries of origin. The ECA will also present the results of a study on the situation and the impact of migrant fund transfers on Tunisia's economic development.

Fund transfers are an important source of external financing for development in North Africa. However, new generations' tendency to settle permanently in host countries and the loosening of direct family ties with their countries of origins may lead to a slow down or a stagnation in remittances.

Migrants' countries of origin are conscious of this phenomenon and attempt to mobilize diaspora savings and fund transfers in support to development and productive investments through various means, including improving national strategies aimed at Diasporas, facilitating fund transfers, increasing investment and placement opportunities and supporting the study of workers' remittances.

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Its Office for North Africa is tasked with supporting the development of the seven countries of the sub region (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia and Sudan) by helping them to formulate and implement such policies and programs as would contribute to their economic and social transformation. For further information on ECA and to download our reports, please visit the website at www.uneca.org.

For more information, please contact hfilali-ansary[at]uneca[dot]org / cea.an.coms[at]gmail[dot]com or call +212 (0) 537 71 78 29 / 71 56 13

Read the original article on UNECA.

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