Remittances play a pivotal role and are an important source of external financing for the development of these countries. However, two interconnected phenomena are indicative of a potential decrease or, at least, a stagnation of remittances to family members: given the trend to permanent settlement of new generations in the host country, and the disappearance or at least gradual decrease of direct family ties with their home country, remittances to help family members are likely to shrink over time.

Nevertheless, aware of this trend, the countries try to mobilize the Diaspora savings and remittances to channel them more efficiently into development and productive investments, in particular by improving (i) national strategies and policies focused on the Diaspora, (ii) financial and institutional infrastructure in support to money transfer, (iii) investment opportunities, and (iv) statistics and data/information on workers' remittances.

The Sub-Regional Office for North Africa of the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA-NA), in collaboration with the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), will organize an expert meeting on 19-20 May, 2015 in Rabat (Morocco), to discuss and share experiences and best practices on the optimal use of migrant savings and remittances to finance the economic and social development. Several experts, chosen for their expertise and experience in this field, were invited to participate to this workshop.

It will be presented in this workshop the outcomes of the study on the situation and role of migrants remittances in the economic development.