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2005 12th APEC Finance Ministerial Meeting

  

12th APEC Finance Ministers' Meeting

Joint Ministerial Statement

8-9 September 2005,
Jeju, Republic of Korea



Annex C

APEC Finance Minister's Statement on Remittances


We, the APEC Finance Ministers, welcome the final report of the APEC Finance Ministers' Working Group on Remittance Systems and urge economies to develop strategies to improve remittance services, as appropriate 1. We note that global remittances contribute significantly to economic growth. However, these flows can be restricted by regulatory or technological barriers that raise the cost of or reduce access to remittance services. This initiative was launched in September 2002 to identify these economic and structural impediments contributing to the circumvention of formal remittance channels.

Led by Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States, the Working Group completed its initiative with recommendations on how APEC economies can facilitate improvements in remittance services to encourage the use of formal channels, boost savings for households, increase financing for local businesses, and make financial systems more resistant to money laundering and terrorist financing activities. Ministers also recognize the value of and urge further collaboration with multilateral development banks and the private sector to enhance competition in the remittance market, where appropriate.

In particular, we take note of the four priority areas that were identified to guide governments' actions to improve the efficacy of remittance systems. The following areas were identified as a result of the Remittance Symposium in Tokyo in June 2004 and the Remittance Policy Dialogue in Bangkok in May 2005 2, organized by the Working Group in conjunction with the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

1. Improve knowledge on remittance corridors and the availability of data on remittance flows.3

Strengthen domestic financial infrastructure to support cross border remittance flows.

3. Ensure appropriate oversight of remittance service providers and access to payment systems4; and

4. Initiate or expand financial literacy programs by both the government and private sector, to broaden familiarity and use of remittance services.

In this context, we recognize the efforts and work programs being undertaken by some member economies and multilateral institutions. In particular, we note the report released by the Russian Federation at the Finance Ministers' Meeting.

 1 This third report of the Working Group summarizes the May 2005 Remittance conference and highlights the key findings of this initiative, drawing from the APEC bilateral case studies on remittance corridors and the first APEC conference in June 2004 as well.
2 See www.remittance-initiative.org for details.
3 In response to a request by G-7 finance ministers, the World Bank, the IMF, the ADB and other members of an international working group are producing a report with recommendations for improving remittance statistics.
4 The Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems and the World Bank are working with national authorities on developing international principles for oversight for remittance service providers to be completed by early 2006.

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