DIASPORA – Mobilizing diasporas investment – A challenge for economic development agencies

To attract funds from the diasporas, Mediterranean economic development agencies need to target their searches, as explained by the Anima Investment Network and applied by the FIPA in Tunisia.

According to the UN, remittances from overseas workers to families in their home countries “play a counter-cyclical role during periods of slow-down in the receiving countries”. The Organisation estimates that these payments, which help meet household needs as well as support education and entrepreneurship, represent three times the amount of official overseas development aid.

For Emmanuel Noutary, general manager of the Anima Investment Network, “The debate over the diasporas’ involvement often focuses on remittances and their inadequate conversion into business investment. But that is a mistake. These remittances are a social safety net that is used to fund health, education, housing or spending. It has nothing to do with the diasporas’ savings, which often remain in the country of residence.”

For the past 15 years, the association has been helping Mediterranean countries’ governments and agencies in attracting interest from their expatriate communities…

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