Togo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Robert Dussey, welcomes the contribution “essential and important” of Morocco to the implementation of the content of the agenda of the ” Decade of African Roots and African Diasporas 2021-2031 ».
Speaking at the opening, Thursday, of the work of the Rabat Forum on reducing the cost of remittances from the African Diaspora, Mr. Dussey indicated that the “Morocco has made essential and significant efforts to implement the 2021-2031 agenda” and has also played an important role in all activities related to the African Diaspora.
This meeting takes place in an international context characterized by multiple uncertainties and challenges, noted the head of Togolese diplomacy, noting that “this forum is a privileged opportunity to strengthen the frameworks for dialogue with regard to the actions to be taken” to reduce the cost of remittances from the diaspora.
He also underlined the need to submit concrete proposals at the end of the Forum, in particular focusing on innovative technological solutions that would help reduce costs and encourage immigrants to invest in the economies of the countries of origin. .
The minister also announced Togo’s intention to organize a pan-African congress in 2024 dealing with the various economic and political aspects of the African diasporas.
For her part, the Minister attached to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Senegalese Abroad, in charge of Senegalese Abroad, Annette Seck, welcomed the organization of this forum which “comes at the right time”emphasizing the strong recommendations that will be provided at the end of the Forum and which will be supported by the African Union so that all the bottlenecks that could arise and negatively impact the implementation of new media can be avoided, and allow to capitalize as well as possible on these transfers.
Ms. Seck also indicated that the issue of reducing the cost of remittances from the African Diaspora is important for all of Africa, adding that it “It is enough to hear the volumes of these transfers to know that these are extremely large amounts”.
Enormous efforts still need to be made, she noted, because “this diaspora pays in the absence of adequate support, the high price of these remittances, benefits very little and the countries of origin, even less”noting that these transfers not only are extremely expensive for Africa, but also do not benefit investments and do not add value to the economy of the countries concerned.
Co-chaired by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad, Nasser Bourita, and his Togolese counterpart, Robert Dussey, this forum is being held with the participation of representatives of the AU Commissioner for Development, Trade, Industry and Mines, the AU Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development as well as the AU Citizens and Diaspora Director (CIDO) but also the representatives of Africa’s partners and financial institutions, notably the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the IMF, the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
The Forum, which is part of the implementation of the 2021-2031 agenda on “African roots and the African diaspora”, aims to carry out an overall reflection on the levers and measures capable of supporting the dynamics of remittance flows from the African diaspora while accelerating the efforts to reduce the associated costs, in order to align with the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Goal 20 of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (make remittances faster, safer and cheaper and promote financial inclusion for migrants). (With MAP)