PRESS RELEASE
10 February 2009
Yaounde to host first African Remittance Conference (AREC-2009)
Amidst the rapidly increasing volume of cash flows across borders, an international conference on remittance will be organised in Cameroon from November 23-25, 2009.
The African Remittance Conference (AREC), which will hold in Yaounde, is the initiative of the Institute of Financial and Development Studies (IFIDS), an independent financial think-tank, in partnership with Cameroon’s Ministry of Finance.
Remittances -- money sent home by migrant workers -- have been ballooning in the last couple of years, and in many developing countries now exceed the combined volume of international aid and foreign direct investment.
Although remittances have been growing at an astonishing rate of about 30 percent annually, reaching over 250 billion U.S. dollars in 2006 according to the World Bank, Africa’s share of this new source of wealth is barely about 7 percent of the global total.
Furthermore, close to 90% of the funds reaching Africa through remittances are spent on mostly social needs.
IFIDS executive director, Simon Awanchiri, said it is time Africa made better use of remittances reaching the continent.
"Although we may consider what Africa currently receives in the form of remittances to be relatively small, the sums are, however, colossal (over 20 billion US dollars in 2006 alone, and the figure is growing each year),” he said. “Yet Africa has nothing to show as directly resulting from the huge sums the continent receives each year. AREC 2009 therefore has as one of its main objectives to examine ways of increasing the amount received but more particularly to formulate strategies that strengthen Africa’s ability to use the sums received to enhance the continent’s economic growth."
The Yaounde conference shall bring together finance and development experts as well as actors in the money transfer sector from Africa and the rest of the world to examine this phenomenon and determine why Africa is not yet cashing in on this opportunity. They will also map out strategies to increase the volume of remittances flowing into Africa and explore possible links between Africa’s economic growth, international aid, foreign direct investment and remittances.
On the sidelines of AREC-2009, money transfer operators, banks, telecommunication companies, microfinance institutions, etc. shall be exhibiting their remittance products, services and technologies, especially those adapted to African needs and realities.
Participants at AREC will be drawn from the public and private sectors and the international community will include African finance ministers, representatives of central banks, commercial banks, microfinance institutions, apex and civil society organisations, among others. International financial and development organisations will also be in attendance.
It is expected that resolutions taken at AREC-2009 will include an African Action Plan on Remittances (AAPR) for governments and the private sector, which if implemented should see African countries taking advantage of the opportunity offered by remittances to increase their revenues and as a contribution toward achieving higher and sustained economic growth.
AREC participants will also put in place a strong follow-up mechanism to ensure the implementation of the AAPR and other resolutions. Another conference is envisaged two years down the road to measure progress, share lessons and experiences learnt in the implementation of the AAPR and chart further steps forward.
IFIDS officials have expressed deep appreciation to the Cameroon government, through the Ministry of Finance, for its support to this initiative.
It is hoped that AREC-2009 will be Africa’s bold leap in the globalised economy toward a new era of prosperity.
For further information, contact:
Institute of Financial and Development Studies (IFIDS)
B.P. 13827 Yaounde-Cameroon
Tel. (237)22-10-37-81
Fax (237)22-31-44-85
E-mail: info@arec-conference.org
Website: www.arec-conference.org
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