The International Organization for Migration and the Universal Postal Union pledged to further the development impact of remittances.
“Last year, some 316 billion dollars were transferred to developing countries,” said the IOM's director general, William Lacy Swing, who was at UPU headquarters this morning to sign a cooperation agreement. “While these are personal financial flows associated with migration, remittances play a major role in poverty reduction and are the largest economic benefit of migration for countries of origin.
The agreement, signed during the UPU’s annual session of the Postal Operations Council, marks a growing recognition of the need to jointly improve, strengthen and expand remittance services through postal services to further the impact of remittances on communities and countries.
Joint project
“With more than 650,000 outlets worldwide, the postal network is well positioned to provide the world's growing migrant population with access to secure, effective and affordable money transfer services,” says the UPU's director general, Edouard Dayan. “Many UPU members already offer some form of electronic money transfer. With IOM’s support, we wish to expand this service to encourage migrants to remit through postal networks so their money can effectively contribute to the economic and social development of their countries of origin.”
IOM and UPU are currently implementing a joint project to improve remittance services between Tanzanian and Uganda through postal offices in remote areas.
The UPU’s International Financial System allows for the rapid and secure transfer of money orders and inter-bank transfer over a private, secure network, which eliminates many problems associated with paper-based money orders. Over 3 trillion dollars is deposited in postal banks and in other postal financial institutions worldwide, which manage more than 1.5 billion customers.
The UPU, a United Nations specialized agency, was granted observer status during the 91st special session of the IOM Council.