IOM Director General William Lacy Swing and UPU Director General
Edouard Dayan will today sign an agreement in Bern pledging closer
cooperation between the two Organizations on joint activities aimed
at furthering the development impact of remittances.

"Last year, some USD 316 billion were transferred to developing
countries," says IOM's William Lacy Swing. "Whilst 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 UPU's 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.

"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 UPU 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. 

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 USD 3 trillion is deposited in
postal banks and in other postal financial institutions worldwide,
covering over 1.5 billion customers. 

UPU, a UN specialized agency, was granted observer status during
the 91st special session of the IOM Council.

For more information, please contact:

Rhéal LeBlanc

UPU Berne

Tel: +41 31 350 32 51 or +41 79 345 97 64

E-mail: "mailto:rheal.LEBLANC@upu.int">rheal.LEBLANC@upu.int

or

Jean-Philippe Chauzy

IOM Geneva

Tel: 41 22 717 9361

Mobile: 41 79 285 4366

E-mail: "mailto:pchauzy@iom.int">pchauzy@iom.int