Migration, Trade and Investments

Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen signed an agreement to start electronic money transfers using technology that has been developed by the Universal Postal Union (UPU).

According to the Universal Postal Union (UPU), the agreement will now allow the eight countries to exchange money orders on a multilateral basis. This is particularly valuable in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, where more than 80% of the population are foreigners, and millions of dollars are sent to home countries through remittances. 

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas designed the Lingkod sa Kapwa Pilipino or LINKAPIL Program in 1989. It has resulted in the forging of broader and deeper partnerships between Filipinos beyond borders. As a vehicle of service to fellow Filipinos, LINKAPIL provides a mechanism for the transfer of various forms of resources from Filipinos overseas to support small-scale, high-impact projects that address the country's social and economic development needs. 

The Banco do Brasil, the Japanese National Mail Service and several banks have agreed to cooperate to facilitate remittances transfers.

The Development Corporation for Israel, commonly known as Israel Bonds, was established in 1951 and is the broker-dealer and underwriter for securities - Israel bonds - issued by the State of Israel in the United States.

The agreement between the Doha Bank and the PT Bank Central Asia Tbk, Indonesia enables Indonesian migrant workers to use the web-based remittances services.

Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre (OIFC) was established in 2007 with the objective of supporting the Indian Diaspora connect better with India and assisting them in deepening their economic and intellectual engagement with India. Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India, set up OIFC, a Public Private Partnership, in association with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), India’s apex industry chamber.

The French Co-development program introduces the idea of “supporting initiatives by young people of immigrant origin”, a policy that enables youth associations of immigrant descent and youth associations in the parents’ countries of origin to be co-financed for socio-cultural activities that are deployed on both territories.

These projects should foster citizenship and socio-economic integration in France, and contribute to development initiatives in the regions of departure.

This practice facilitates the investments of individual Malians or Malian Diaspora associations in France in local community development projects or enterprise creation in Mali. Participation in this programme by Malian migrants in France is not conditional on permanent return.

This programme addresses all aspects of migration, including annual consultations between France and Mali and twinning arrangements between villages.

The Banco Solidario provides small loans at very competitive rates for migrants departing to Spain in order to cover the costs of their flight, the first days in Spain and family support until the migrant receives his/her first pay.

Remittances for development council serves as a consultative programme to discuss issues concerned about remittances as well as an advisory and policy-recommending bodies for channeling remittances for development. Another focus for the Philippines government is to minimize barriers to asset transfers, through creating conducive legislative and institutional framework that facilitate engagement. For instance, the Philippines has introduced flexible residence visa arrangements to facilitate access to the Philippines or former Philippines citizens.