The GodFather Posted January 10, 2023 Posted January 10, 2023 Rabat - Morocco’s capital Rabat will on January 12-13 host a two-day forum to discuss the important contributions of African diaspora’s remittances to the continent’s development. Exploring the “Reduction of Remittance Costs for the African Diaspora,” the forum will include plenary sessions, which will focus on different themes and challenges that the continent’s diaspora faces. The panels will include the contribution of diaspora members to the development and poverty alleviation in Africa through remittances, as well as an overview and perspectives of the diaspora remittances. The third theme will be the digitization of financial services, tackling the constraints and challenges members of the diaspora face. According to a statement from Morocco’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the forum’s main objective is to announce a High-Level Political Declaration, or Declaration of Rabat, which will include recommendations resulting from the plenary sessions. The recommendations will also foresee the establishment of a “steering committee” to support countries in Africa and their actions to reduce the costs of remittances from African diaspora to their home continent. “The recommendations of this declaration are to be proposed to the AU Summit scheduled in February 2023 with a view to reaching a decision to promote and increase the transfer of funds from the African diaspora to the continent, in particular via the reduction of their costs,” the ministry explained. Several reports confirm the importance of African diaspora remittances in contributing to their country’s respective development and GDPs. In May of last year, a World Bank report documented an increase in migration remittances to sub-Saharan Africa by 14.1% to reach $49 billion in 2021. The report confirmed the same development with an increase of 7.6% of remittances sent to the Middle East and North Africa in the same year. The cost of transfers, however, remains the highest in the world, said the report. Similarly, Morocco's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that a shipment of $200 charges averaged 8% on average for sub-Saharan Africa in the first quarter of 2021 compared to 6.4% internationally. As for Morocco’s diaspora remittances, their number exceeded $9.5 billion at the end of the first 11 months of 2022. About 10% of the total remittances are directed to investment but only 2% of the remittances are directed to “productive investment,” according to Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita. This challenge “must be solved at the legislative level by putting measures at the level of investment code,” Bourita said last month, stressing the importance and role of Morocco’s diaspora in the country’s development in all sectors. https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2023/01/353445/morocco-to-host-forum-on-reduction-of-remittance-costs-for-african-diaspora
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