 participants of the Dialogue, International Dialogue on Migration, we would like to start this afternoon session with an exciting panel, which we have worked very hard to put together for all of you and prepared a very exciting panel of speakers. I'm going to introduce them in a bit, but before doing that, let me say a few words about the one and a half hours that we are going to spend together with you. Right now, starting to discuss the topic of empowering migrants and transnational communities as development actors in terms of financial inclusions, remittances and beyond. This topic has been already discussed and mentioned in the previous panels of this dialogue. In today's morning session, I know that the representatives of diaspora were already referring towards the content which we are going to discuss now. So it's a natural continuation of the previous panels as well as the ones during yesterday. So a few words about what we want to do today in this one and a half hours that we have to together with you. So we would like to really look into the topic of remittances and the situation with migrant workers, migrants and diaspora communities, zooming into the overarching topic of this dialogue. During the COVID period, the pandemic how it influenced the situation of migrants, but also in terms of expanding, we certainly would like not to stop there and discuss on the latest trends of remittances and the impact, but also start looking into the broader notion of migrant contributions to development. As you know, we have, you might have noticed the launch of a very interesting publication that we put together, contributions and counting, and for us, this, the areas of migrants and impact on their situation during COVID but also the situation of families and communities. This is spamming beyond just the topic of remittances and financial transfers, because we see migrants as agents in involving in the other areas, and other forms of engagement with the communities both where they reside but also communities of origin. So we will also discuss today the broader notion of contributions of migrants as envisaged in objective 19 of the global compact and such areas as investments where diaspora is bringing their resources to support economic development, philanthropy trade. And in addition to that, we also will zoom into the issues of the role of governments in the context of supporting migrants and transnational communities. As we gear towards the International Migration Forum Review scheduled for the first part of next year, we will be of course looking into the topic of migrants contributions. I think we need to look into this sound, parallel sound, but just to revert further. So as we move to the GCM implementation and reporting on the progress within GCM, it will be absolutely crucial for us not to forget indeed this topic of remittances, migrants, contributions which are covered by objectives 19 and 20. So moving forward, we will also look into the and discuss the role of governments and how they can support migrants to become agents of developments in a more powerful manner. Let me say a few words about the panelists, who we invited to spend this time with us during this panel. First of all, we have miss Veronica Stutz guide, the founder and CEO of the International Association of Money Transfer Networks. Veronica is our trust, we're the partner with whom we have been engaging in a number of initiatives. She is passionate about innovation and FinTech, and especially with the focus on enabling access to financial services for the world. Over 16 years of experience in the remittance industry, since founding the association Veronica has been working with different stakeholders to bridge the gap between the public and private sectors, helping to unlike resources to reduce poverty and support local economic development. In her role of representing the views of the private sector and the broader remittance industry, Veronica is a member of different working groups and interacts with regulators around the world and key international bodies including our organization. She is also on the advisory board of private sector companies. And in the past, she set up a money transfer company herself focusing on Eastern Europe and and served as CEO for five years. I like the motto which Veronica is supporting she believes that everyone has a right to access financial services to grow their businesses and improve their lives so welcome on board Veronica. The second panelist is also an expert with whom we've been collaborating on multiple initiatives and one of such is the contributions and counting publication which we asked Mr Leon Isaac to also speak about so Leon is a founder and chief executive director of DMA global, the specialist, the specialist international development company founded in 2007. He's a seasoned expert and business leader in the payments and international development fields with a particular expertise in migrant remittances diaspora investment diaspora engagement and financial inclusion. He has over 30 years of hands on experience in that area of work. He was a member to the G 20 consultative committee of the private public sector partnership on remittances was a managing director of the International Association of money transfer networks where he interacted with numerous regulators and stakeholders to represent the industry and was a member of the UK remittances task force between 2005 and 2010 Leon speaks at various conferences chaired numerous international events on remittances including the World Bank, United Nations and G eight. Prior to establishing DMA global he was involved with two successful startup remittance businesses in economies by training he is currently based in France welcome on the panel, Leon, as always happy to have you at our events and discussions. The next two speakers are representing actually public authorities and I'm so thrilled to have among our speakers today, Mr Gerardo here Roberto Perez figuerra. He is the director of diaspora and development. He is a career diplomat with a 15 year career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He had different responsibilities within the ministry was an attache in the general directorate of protocol and orders to the office of the president of the Republic for three presidential periods. He was also the team of the general directorate of economic relations that developed the economic commercial and tourism councils program under their responsibility were the commercial offices in Germany, Spain, People's Republic of China Republic of China Taiwan He was the director for Dominic Republic and Columbia. He was minister counselor and deputy head of mission at the embassy of also El Salvador in France, non resident with Algeria Monaco in Portugal it's actually very long list of international experience. I was really impressed to have Mr Perez as part of our panelists he was always also participating within the development and engaging in charge of the development center of the OECD. In London she was representative of El Salvador to the international coffee organization and the international maritime organization so with a solid experience of partnering with the private sector as you see. Before his current assignment as director of diaspora and development of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he served as charge the fair of the embassy of El Salvador in Doha Qatar. Not resident with Kuwait among Jordan Saudi Arabia Pakistan and Palestine so I wonder if there is peace of the world which Mr Paris hasn't worked in or on. He holds a bba from the International School of Business and York University welcome Mr Paris with us. And another in a very important panelist is Dr. Abdi Fattah Deryu Ahmed. Dr. Abdi Fattah is representing a public structure public authority the Somalia's National Institute of Health but also he has had an excellent and extensive experience of working abroad with over 15 years of experience and complex health settings across Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. Dr. Abdi Fattah has a master's in public health policy and management from Oxford University, and the bachelor's degree in biomedical science and laboratory diagnostics technology from Oslo University College. The course of experience started in one of the busiest and biggest university hospitals in Oslo. As a clinical scientist specialized in microbiology and infection immunology diagnostic before leading him to the emergency response to humanitarian crisis and different parts of the world I think this experience in health responses is very relevant as we are discussing the overarching topic during this dialogue response to COVID. So it will be interesting to hear from Dr. Abdi Fattah of course, on that but also broader topic that we are discussing in terms of diaspora and throughout his 15 years as a public health professional he served in various capacities in Yemen, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Greece, Uganda and Kenya with various NGOs, including Oxfam, NRC, WHO, HCR. In 2013, Dr. Abdi Fattah co-founded the Somalia National Institute of Health. Shortly afterwards he left the Institute to pursue a career with the UN before returning to the Institute as its executive director. In his current role he also acts as the COVID-19 incident manager as well as the IHR focal point. He also presides over major national health projects such as being the coordinator of the contingency emergency response component. He is a Norwegian citizen welcome on board Dr. Abdi Fattah as well. So as you see the experience that among our four speakers is overwhelming so I would like to rather than speaking on myself to turn to the first speaker, Ms. Sturzkaat, with this question. Veronica, you represent an interesting organization very important one the International Association of Monetary Transfer Networks. The one which joined the Swiss UK call to action on keeping remittances flow during COVID-19. Can you please say a few words about your organization's work so that we get to learn the organization but also why it decided to join the international effort on paying attention to the situation of remittances during COVID-19 this call to action. Also, from your organization's and membership perspective, what have been most important developments that emerged during COVID-19 pandemic in terms of remittances costs reduction support to migrants and their families. And as we discuss what could governments be doing to support the industry the money transfer operations operators in terms of their work and enhancing their also commitments to reducing the costs but also supporting migrant families. So please the floor is yours Veronica. Thank you very much Marina. I will say good morning, good afternoon, good evening, depending where you're connecting. Thank you very much to the organizers for the invitation. Yes, it's why did we decided to join I would like to start to the answer of this question you know in three stages so first why we decided why we decided to join. I would like to start with what does it means for I am 10 and its members to be part of these initiatives. So I am 10 is a nonprofit membership association that represents remittance services providers. The remittance services providers have an incredible network around the world. So they were already connected on the ground and connected with migrants worker when the COVID pandemic struck the world. They were the first one to sense how the situation impacted the customers and they understood how important it was for these migrants to be able to send continuous sending money to the families and friends. As they were doing it before the COVID 19 pandemic and for the remittance industry providers it was a very difficult situation by that time I mean we all know what happened during the pandemic so but it was a very difficult time, because they were dealing not only with the task to keep remittances flowing but also dealing with their own challenges that they were having through running a business. So they were dealing with the decline of remittances volume they had closed locations they had limited hours in some countries, staff isolation they have many members of the staff getting ill, liquidity issues, access to financial services we have to remember that bank the risk in it was still active and it's still active I mean they were closing bank accounts during the lockdown so it was a problem and many more. So, even though the pandemic affected the entire world. Some countries have been more affected than others. And the lockdowns. The reason that the lockdowns were implemented at different times, also that made that the staff of different services provided had to be more responsive to the constant changes in real time. And they have to work daily with their customers in order to help them to figure out what the new reality was on the grounds on market, in some cases on regulations. And beginning of March 2020, we decided to survey the industry, in order to understand the immediate needs, the remittance services provided had in order to keep these remittances flowing and once we had the scenario was terrible, and once we had the responses we decided to reach out for support to everyone, and I mean everyone who was on my database to be honest. International organizations, intergovernmental organizations, regulators, policymakers, you name it everyone who would accept to have a video call from us. It was not an easy task. And normally, when you have different stakeholders, it's almost unavoidable that they will come with their own agenda. So, but we tried, and we did it so when the task force, a chair by IFAD was formed. We joined, we saw that as an opportunity for us to share the views of the industry. And as Marina said before, we were working already with IOM so I was also there it was a for us it was a platform where we were all sharing what we would see from the ground and sharing different experience and propose different way of doing things. Then in May came the call to action which was an initiative from the Swiss government and the UK government. We were also there, we were at very early stage, we joined so for us it was an excellent opportunity to input from the industry our perspective. And these initiatives are significant, not only because they bring people together but also because they recognize the importance of addressing these challenges that the industry is facing and more than, more than that is that we can share the impact that these challenges have with the senders and the receivers of remittances. Especially in times of crisis, these initiatives are very good, very welcome from the industry. So regarding developments that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID was a catalyst for the digital transformation that's something we all know. So, from the industry, the industry decided that scaling up was a priority. So for those that had the funding and could, they decided to digitize their services if they were not already working in the digital channels. For those that were already working operating digital channels they decided to increase the presence online with different partnerships to increase in different regions. So, for the remittance services providers, they, the industry decided to invest in digitizing or either accelerating the introduction of the digital remittance services that were already undergoing even before the pandemic. And by linking these products and services with the use of financial technology, they were able to offer digital transactions, mobile payment, electronic payments. And in some, in many cases, products specially designed for migrants, what the migrants needed by that time. And by these, by investing in these, they did not only invested in the business, but they were investing in reducing costs, which is something that we all have been working in the industry for many years. Increasing accessibility, providing access for everyone digitally onboard and as many new client customers they could, and transparencies. I want to remember that some of these customers were coming with the retail experience so they were expecting to have some of the same experience within the remittances so many started introducing trackers so migrants would see where the transactions are and like that. So, we've got on how governments could engage more with the industry. There's a lot that government can do the COVID pandemic not only exposed the deficiencies we have in the industry but also pre-existing challenges we had. So, it is right to think that digital solution have the potential to reduce cost increase transparency accessibility and speed, but it comes with certain challenges we must agree that is not just about building an app, expecting customers to use it. It comes more than that governments need to support these initiatives. We need to ensure that we have an open payment ecosystem. We need to avoid fragmented and inconsistent regulatory oversight. Otherwise, we are risking increasing financial exclusion instead of financial inclusion. So, there's a lot more than governments can do. We need to recognize that this is not the first time remittances is in the agenda of the public sector. It is not the first crisis we have met. So, for the industry it was not an easy time. It was during the pandemic it was not easy. It was quite challenging to obtain the much needed support of governments and even in some cases with the lateral organizations. The industry needs proactive support. Our trade organizations like us need support. During the last 15 years we were told there's no funding for us. We are until today funded by our members only. Our members are remittance services providers as I said when I started talking about who is anti and what is anti and our members are remittances service providers. Remittance services providers who are mostly migrants. For this reason I would like you to think about one thing. Every time you hear or read remittances is proved to be more resilient than initially expected. Remember one thing. Remember that this industry, the remittance industry has been built by migrants to serve migrants. So remittances are not resilient. Migrants are. Migrants did it. Thank you. Thank you Veronica for this overview of the trends, observations and of course your basically open and direct ideas in terms of how we can be supporting the industry in terms of also contributing to the bigger agendas on reducing the cost but also supporting migrants and it's exciting to hear. I think it's the first time that I'm hearing that indeed a lot of founders of those organizations which are involved in really supporting the financial transactions are migrant owned or migrant initiated. So in indeed the question is always in terms of how much we can leave the market to regulate itself and find the solutions about in terms of digital transformation. So there is one opinion saying that well there is a lot of progress within the it structures within the connectivity. So but what what I heard from you also saying is that there is more beyond that there's also migrants as customers and they need support there's also those who are involved MTOs who have been really taking this agenda of reducing the cost very actively. Some of the initiatives are really overwhelming to see how indeed the technologies allow us to help reducing the cost and connect families across the globe of course it's a big agenda and that's why what I heard from you saying also it's really important to really continue and support all these different platforms for experience exchange for elaboration of common messages and as well as common understanding in terms of through the situation because indeed when the World Bank came up with a projection of 20% reduction of of remittance costs and all of a sudden, towards the end of the year we realize that actually the default was there but not as dramatic. So, for us again, let's try to debunk those myths and try to work very concretely through specific initiatives as you those you mentioned the effort coordinated the task force the call to action. So thank you very much Veronica, extremely exciting and I'm always thrilled to work with directly with representatives of the industry because it for us, it helps us really define our own actions and really make them relevant more relevant to the real background so let me now turn to Leon. And Leon also of course not not how to say out and outside it to the remittance industry. And as I mentioned in my introduction you have also overwhelming experience Leon I have a few commissions to you of course I know you can speak about remittances you've done that at multiple for. Today, maybe you start opening up our view a little bit of discourse beyond remittances so you have been collaborating with us and indeed this publication we put together contributions and counting is the one which we worked really hard and was not an easy one to conceptualize and come up with basically a proposal of how we can start measuring those contributions beyond remittances. So, if looking again, maybe if you can say a few words about our collaboration on the publication a bit of your experience but also covered 19 again go into this topic. So, do you think moving forward, how can we really become again more tangible in in in bringing all our ideas experience into the concrete situations on the ground. How can we start advocating on on migrants contributions which spend beyond remittances but also really support specific initiatives on the ground by by really collecting information becoming more equipped with evidence. Have we seen examples where migrants really started accelerating their support again beyond remittance flows. And again what are your also since we are trying to conceptualize some messages to the government top three or a few messages or recommendations to governments and policy makers in this regard. So please, Leon, all these questions. How would you respond to this. Great. Thanks very much indeed Marina for that for that great introduction and it's my pleasure to be on this panel with such esteemed speakers, it's always difficult following after Veronica so I'm just glad I'm not talking on remittances directly on this one. Perhaps as you suggested perhaps just before answering about the future just to say a few words about the contributions and and counting document which as you say was quite a challenging task and I think it was really driven because we all know that migrants contribute to their countries of origin in a variety of ways. And that many countries are obviously much more aware of this and have taken a proactive approach to engage their their immigrants and a growing number of reaching out to them. I think the real challenge is that as we know it's hard to develop policy. And so on if we don't actually have good data to be able to justify the effort that is put in to developing things so really that was the driver behind this exercise. I think it was really built on the fact that when one thinks about diaspora and in a financial way. It's nearly always remittances that comes to top of mind, which sort of makes the assumption that we know everything we need to know about remittances and I'm sure that anybody who's involved in the industry will know that actually that's not true, but I think we are at least starting to make progress in that area. But in other areas that diasporas contribute to. There's really very little of any quantitative element that's actually been undertaken so with the help of I am we had a great partnership in developing this guidance on measuring the impact of diaspora beyond remittances. It's actually a structured approach to how to calculate this. It is available on the IOM websites and I'd encourage everybody to do it's in multiple languages now. But it provides guidance for governments and national authorities who are really looking to understand and measure the economic contributions made by their diaspora to their country of origin. In particular, we started with four key areas where we believe diaspora making a financial contribution at the moment. One of those is investment. Secondly, trade. There's a lot of diasporas who have developed businesses that trade with a country of origin tourism and philanthropy. And so the contributions and counting actually provides users with a structured approach to understanding firstly existing data collection frameworks where they exist, and how these can be modified to actually isolate capital inflows made by the diaspora through those channels that I've just mentioned. Data that's then generated from this exercise can be utilized to make more precise policy interventions and develop more effective programs to engage the diasporas as developmental actors. And as I said, this is a live project. I'm delighted to say we're also piloting it with two countries at the moment, which is great. And we think this will grow over time. So I think maybe I'll stop the advert for that there and move on to your question around really whether it's relevant still more relevant or less relevant as a result of COVID-19. Veronica move forward with it. So my real response to that is I think it's absolutely relevant and probably in many ways COVID-19 has made it more so. As we know and Veronica very eloquently outlined the role of migrants in supporting their families. In many ways by extension their countries of origin has actually been heightened because of the pandemic, pandemic. Even though many, many migrants suffered themselves during the pandemic. They also had other responsibility in many cases of supporting their families and countries. It's interesting that many countries actually look to their diasporas to help them through this crisis. And I know we're going to hear about some of the health support functions that were provided by diasporas but just on a financial means, certainly the diasporas were top of mind. The challenge is we don't really know how much has been contributed. And we don't have a comprehensive list of the different ways either. If we could actually measure that, then that would really help to provide supporting policies, not just from the countries that are receiving the benefits but also from those who provide support to those countries as well. And we really feel that the only way to do this is to do it through a structured approach. I think, you know, times of crisis, we always are in that terrible sort of reactive phase. But later we have, before we start taking decisions, the better the decisions can be so a long way of saying apologies for the length of that answer that I do think it's particularly relevant. In terms of some examples we've certainly seen a number of examples, again some harder to quantify than others of where migrants have accelerated their support, not necessarily just through remittances so one example would be in Pakistan, some of you may be familiar with something called the Roshan digital account. This was actually a, as the name implies, a digital investment and money transfers, well in savings area, introduced by the government of Pakistan specifically aimed at the non resident Pakistanis anywhere in the world. It was quite revolutionary from the Pakistani viewpoint in particular because it was very easy for the non resident Pakistanis to be able to establish this account administrative side of it was made quite simple. And then this platform basically has allowed the government to provide a number of different opportunities for the aspirants to invest to support the country so they've offered government bonds, they've offered a range of savings programs they're now offering incentives making it easier for people to actually buy cars and other investment products let's say for their for Pakistanis for them to buy for their families back home. And they've also undertaken this in a very dedicated manner they put a lot of promotion to it they've really reached out very well to the Pakistanis all around the world either using a variety of tools, social media, obviously, but also the diplomatic missions have really been tasked with promoting this. And the results have been really impressive so in the first 12 months it was launched in September 2020 so in the middle of the pandemic. Since then, over $2 billion has actually been placed through these accounts in various investments of one sort of another. So if you think, and to put that into perspective that somewhere around about seven or 8% of the total amount received informal remittances in the country in a year. So in just 12 months they've been able to catalyze a really large sum so that's been encouraging. For example, which is sort of on similar lines but maybe not with so many varieties is the Philippines, which has issued a progress so it's called progress so retail treasury bond. This was only issued a couple of months ago, but it was specifically issued to overseas based Filipinos. Anybody could actually apply but it was really marketed and promoted to overseas Filipinos, again using a mobile app and really very much encouraging them to invest in a series of or in the bond to basically provide funds for the government to help it in its response to the COVID crisis and pandemic and help with the recovery coming afterwards. Well what's interesting with this is that small investors who are specifically targeted to have accounted for about 80% of all the transactions that have been made at an amount somewhere around about 10,000 Filipino dollars per transaction. And these people have come from 24 different countries. So again, it's not a remittance this is actually a government bond and it's been very much used for that by the government and successful already looks like it's been successful. Then I wanted to do one Phil and Phil anthropic pardon my pronunciation. Example, which would be by from a man who I think many of you in the remittances industry, what you'll all know is Ismail Ahmed, who's the founder of world remit a digital money transfer company who's from Somali land, and he's launched a $500 million basically to help it drive entrepreneurial development in Somali land. He's committed a significant amount of his own wealth and investments over the next 10 years to really help develop this and I think, you know, part of what he's trying to do is not just to help with him, although he has put in over a million dollars worth of his own money into helping with personal protective equipment and laboratory testing in the country. He's also looking to develop for the long term so he's helping to actually educate one million adults and young people to help them acquire literacy skills, including financial literacy. He's also really helping hoping that the fund with others will double the literacy rate from 45% to 90% by 2023. So I think those are three good examples of where activities have been taken that are not remittance related by the aspirants to really help their countries, and I guess part of the good thing with all of those is, there is a measure of how much has come in anyway I hope other countries to follow suit. And so finally just to finish off my comments. I think you asked for sort of what can governments do what are the top three things they can do in this area. I would sort of say actually measure measure and measure again I think you know this key area for we need data to be able to make informed decisions. But I think specifically, and what governments can do. One of the things is to really demonstrate political will and support towards the diaspora by if they don't have a specific area or ministry. That is looking at diaspora impact on their country then that's one thing that should definitely be established on I know some of our other speakers are from countries that have that so that's great we can learn from each other. Secondly, I would say come back to the data, really, we need to understand how data is collected at the moment. And then, in most cases, it's just not linked up across government, or we're not collecting the type of data that actually enables us to be able to provide a real value of diaspora contribution so we need to address that we need to take that systematic approach. And I think, overriding all of that is, we need to have a plan of what we're going to do with this data. We just want to collect data for the sake of collecting it. What we really want is to have the data so that we can actually make programs that make a difference that encourage diasporans to support their country of origin, and really provide a mutually supportive network So perhaps I'll stop there, but obviously happy with questions later on and so on. Thank you, Marina. Absolutely thank you very much Leon I was really intrigued to hear those concrete examples and then, and also your answer is very close to my heart measure and measure and measure because indeed that was the reason why we pulled our intellectual capacity together to start capturing the information to because for development of policies legislation we need to have, you know, evidence to explain and exemplify the concrete examples and once we attach numbers, then it becomes very convincing. And really our decision makers really start understanding what what we're speaking about but of course the examples, maybe data is not necessarily numbers but also data what qualitative examples of concrete initiatives that you spoke about these are also absolutely extremely convincing. And then again, that's that's why I think having these platforms exchanges and bringing our understanding together is absolutely crucial and that's what we are doing here today so many things. I don't want to be the one to who is talking a lot because again we have two more speakers right now to to maybe follow up on on the thread of thought we've been building, and I want to turn to our next speaker, Mr Paris, who represents the spirit of diaspora from El Salvador. Mr Paris, you've heard the interventions of Veronica and Leon, speaking from the voice of the private sector, explaining the trends. So, and we would really be very very interested in hearing from your side. And again, when I was reading your bio it's impressive you've had multiple multiple experience of working in different capacities you know the private sector. You've done very well, and then your now vision of working as a director of the diaspora agency in El Salvador. We also say a few words about the experience in El Salvador, during COVID-19. Have you witnessed those examples of support from diaspora communities during the pandemic, be it in the form of remittances or other forms of engagement. But also, your vision so I understand you've been not so long in the post so how you envisage you know your role, your agency's role in really support the engagement with diaspora from from to assist with the response to the pandemic but also a broader economic or broader development in the country. So we're thrilled to listen to your thoughts please Mr Paris. Hi, thank you. Good morning, good afternoon, everybody. And I just like, first of all, to begin giving everybody say thanks for including us in this panel. Actually, I would like to make a direct comment on what Mr. Isaacs was mentioning a with the new government with President Bukele's government the actual administration. There was a decision made. Hi, can you hear me. Yeah, but there is a parallel sound if we can look into that please from the support team. Please continue. I can express some things over here as well. Else has their microphone on. I think we are told that it's something from your side but let's let's continue and see how much interrupted it is so far so far we hear you well. Sorry, it happens with with this new technological era. So, so just going back to what I was saying with President Bukele's administration, there was a decision to create a new vice ministry, which is the vice ministry that I belong to, which of is within the ministry for foreign affairs is the vice ministry for diaspora and human mobility. And why was it created it was created because throughout our history or diaspora has pretty much been. I haven't taken a care of, but I think that that that taken into into consideration how big our diaspora is. Now we have a vice ministry that we focus completely on all their needs. I think something that's very important within this panel that that we are being very active with this financial inclusion. That is something we are diaspora, but most of our country is lacking. But first of all, I just like to give you some numbers just to give you an idea of how big and how important that our diaspora is to my country. Okay, so, so here in El Salvador, our latest census says we are about 6.3 million Salvadorians in El Salvador. Living abroad, we have 3.1 million Salvadorians living in the United States, a register, of course, and then we also have very big diasporas in Canada, Australia, Spain, Italy, Mexico, and other countries. So, so if you can see this is almost a third of our population living abroad. But of course, everybody that leaves sends family remittances. These family remittances have improved the living conditions of thousands of families, and it's in the country contributes very, very strongly to our economy. Our GDP is, remittances represent about 24% of our GDP, and it generates an important contribution through the value added tax, through the consumption of goods and services. Now going to COVID-19. In COVID-19, actually, we had an increase of remittances. In 2020, we closed with $5.9 billion in remittances. But of course, we can relate this to the economic relief measures that were carried out by where most of our diaspora lives, the United States government. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic had another number of new things happening. For example, with the financial inclusion, in the latest senses that we did with our banking sector, it showed that 70% of Salvadorians don't have a formal bank account. That's a very big number. But seeing that during the lockdown, a period when El Salvador was locked down, people couldn't go to the courier service. They couldn't go to the remittances to where they could go pick up their money. So they had to pretty much open up a bank account in order to have electronic transactions made and be able to receive their money. But also there's another very important thing that I would like to mention is where our remittances come from. As I was saying, most of our remittances come from the US. And I think in the last number that we have, we had $4.6 billion of remittances coming from the US, which is 95.4% of the total remittances that we receive. And then of course, in Canada, we have $4.6.3 million. In Spain, $18.7 million. Italy, $16.5 million. Mexico, $5.3 million. But what does this mean? This means that there's a big dependency on remittances from my country, you could say. So what does my country want to do? What are we looking to do in order to make it include our diaspora and investing in other sector, not only sending the remittances. We are a, for example, we're preparing a law called the law of human mobility, which a big part of this law is telling our banking or banking sector to help us include our diaspora, giving them a more flexible legislation. This is a big, very, very simple thing. For example, in diasporas that went to the US, in our case, they left El Salvador. When they leave El Salvador, they don't have a formal banking record here in my country. So when they try to invest, when they try to come back home, they can't receive a decent loan. So what we're trying to do is we're trying to make this more flexible. We're trying to make this more flexible for our people. So as I was saying, another program, sorry, I would like to mention is a program called investing in building from the United States for a better El Salvador. This is something that we're doing through, instead of you sending your money to El Salvador in remittances, our migrants can buy a gift card and they can go to a convenience store and their family members can use the money to buy construction materials. Why is that? Because we're trying to make all the money that's coming through remittances to be productive. So as I was saying, for my country, it's very important, number one, to give them options, to give our diaspora options to send their remittances as well. I just want to mention I am not a cryptocurrency specialist. I just want to make that clear before the panel opens up, but I can also mention the option that my president has given our diaspora with Bitcoin. So now you can send your remittances through Bitcoin to El Salvador, which is going to exclude a certain percentage that is taken through sending the remittances through a normal career service. So we're hoping that is going to make our nationals be able to send their remittances in 100% instead of having the interest taken from them. So pretty much just in an overview, I just wanted to let everybody know that El Salvador, the remittances have a direct and positive impact in our country. And we are also, the government of El Salvador, we are very motivated to keep on opening up economic inclusion, give our people options, which is very important. And I just like to close out my intervention with a very simple but accurate statement that our president Naibu Kele made. I'm going to say it first in Spanish, it's going to be easier for me, and then I'll say it in English. So in Spanish it says, como no amar a nuestra diaspora como país durante toda nuestra historia le dimos tan poco y ellos responden dándonos tanto. What does this mean? How not to lower diaspora as a country throughout our history, we have given, we have given them so little, but they respond by giving us so much. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Paris for your thoughtful introduction and the final statement actually touched me deeply in my heart. Why because, you know, a lot of, we have had a ministerial meeting convening heads of agencies of diaspora structures in different countries it could be a part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs it could be sitting somewhere else but really, we noticed already in 2013 that they were almost more than 60 or even 100 countries which have started setting up those structures, which start engaging more, more consistently with the population who left the country. And we know sometimes it's really people believe indeed, not necessarily because sometimes they just not necessarily with good and good feelings about the country and this is a very sensitive topic but I think you're the phrase what you said is interesting because there is a recognition that it's not that we expect because somebody goes and leaves a country that that they will be necessarily engaging and really supporting the country so they really this is something which requires a lot of collaboration and partnership and really the trust. And this quotation was really interesting because indeed there is now a much more advanced understanding that diasporas really are real partners so we need to support them and really create all those enabling conditions. And very specific initiative you mentioned in terms of ability to open a banking account. I think Leon spoke about this challenges which we are aware about this status of resident or non resident within the banking industry. So we know that also in your region, many governments have started issuing diaspora cards which allow this possibility of really new transnational identity merging from the point of view, still maybe retaining residents somewhere but really engaging more actively. Or even when they come back they can really be supported in terms of credit history and lack of that. So nobody's exciting thank you so much and again, a lot of ideas, something what you haven't mentioned, what Leon asked now advocated for other countries to start joining and testing methodology we developed together in terms of how to start setting up systems in the country to start measuring those flows and incidents beyond just remittance flows because you, you presented very nice numbers but really there how do we measure the investment of of a Salvadorians in the country, how do we, so there is a methodology we are not pushing you too much but please hopefully you can review it and we are welcoming partnership with all countries towards you know collaborating and testing and make it stronger. So, the next speaker, Mr. Di Fattar, now turning to you. And I know that you prepared your intervention which will be going maybe not necessarily into the so called financial knowledge transfer, financial transfer, economic transfer but really resuming into this engagement with diaspora from the point of view of them bringing their knowledge experiences. And of course with the focus on the health sector health service provision. So, could you please reflect on the response of diaspora to COVID-19 pandemic in Somalia, and whether you could bring maybe concrete examples how diaspora representative was engaging in a specific medical institution. So, also, with you with your institute, we are collaborating on the implementation of one of our flagship programs in terms of support the return of qualified diaspora representatives specifically for the health sector. So maybe you say a few words about that program and specifically whether it was helpful during the pandemic which is of course still ongoing. And also in terms of, you know, your role of the institute and maybe the thinking in the government to what extent you're coordinating with other parts of the government in terms of strengthening this initiative to return of diaspora also for transfer of knowledge and how we can maybe create supportive structures policies laws to make it really sustainable and scaling up please over to you. Thank you very much and Marina and colleagues and indeed very insightful presentations from our colleagues. And good morning, good afternoon and good evening. I'm saying greetings from Mogadishu. And before I answer the question I think as a Somali and I've been myself at diaspora, I would like to touch base on the few to give you a perspective, and the Somalis being known as business community throughout wherever they are. I think I will just want to say that to start with the fact that the largest population of Somali outside Africa and the Middle East in basically based in USA and specifically in Minnesota. And I think we have Somalis have been known to engage diaspora and the communities they left at home and also have somehow marked and contributed in their adopted countries and, for example, in the US they have also now a congresswoman. In Canada they have ministers and they have been engaging making sure that the country at the same time, building up their countries also in the remittance site I think I myself I've been using remittance when I've been outside the country to make sure and to transfer to my people back at home. I remember before the remittance was released to go to the, to the shops and take it there likely but nowadays there is online banking I think Mr. has touched on the wild remittance online banking to make it easier and so thank you. And this is very close to us. My institution is National Institute of Health, I'm also an incident manager and I think Marina did a proper introduction on that. I will not repeat, I will want to say is that in 2008 I think there is a program and migration for development in Africa has started some time back and this was an initiative with support from IOM and other partners, specifically I think the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Finland to engage in the diaspora communities, those who have technical expertise because after the Civil War in Somalia there has been a brain drain. Most of the people left the country and also to re-engage them back you know it's required people have established in their adopted countries and being citizens there and also being productive citizens to attract them back to their countries is you know, and it's not something easy because already people have established themselves so this program I think and gave an opportunity and for those diasporas to really go back and it started as a short-term project, six months, three months to go back, contribute, build the capacities of the staffs and then come back you know they take sub-battles or from the other jobs, this really has helped and it has supported. And me as being the incident manager and the head of the Infections Department, I really was I think very very and I got very good helping hands from I think four doctors from this program, migration for development also known as PIDA and some of them are highly qualified infectious diseases doctors who are really at the working day and night during the first and the second wave of COVID-19 making sure that they build and support the local doctors and also to give them a moral boost that the qualified brothers and sisters are in shoulder with them. This really has helped and it is up to now we have this support. One of the I think as I've mentioned earlier was the challenges that sustainability of these programs. You know, when you have a short-term project or program that is dependent on shortages or there will be a gap and sometimes these gaps can create a challenge. So this is one of the things I think we have really been working closely with OEM to see how these can be addressed. And for example, not only in the national but we have also Somalia now is a federal member states and we have six and federal member states and the southwest and jubilant, twintland and Kirchevele. So these federal member states they are in charge of the health sectors but overall the Ministry of Health and NIH are the coordinating agency. So they have been also very, very good and excellent staff that went there and have supported. For example, the first time we had the onset of COVID-19 was around 20 and much. And this was incident started as a student arriving from China who came with COVID. So once it was specifically after two months I think we had a community transmission of the COVID-19 and it was no longer an important case and this transmission spread. So this really, it was something new to everybody and there was also the myth that people believed that COVID will not affect me or this is something, you know, all these myths that have been circulating around the world. And I think people, even the local doctors and they didn't know how to handle it at first but now we have incident management structures and we really are grateful. We did the first PCR test in I think February and March around that area. And those PCR tests that was the first time that diagnosis was done in country. And this was also supported by the staffs that have been seconded to the Ministry. So this is, I think the migrant's contribution specifically here in Somalia is, I cannot, you know, finish it within this few minutes here, it can go on and on and on for several days. So, and not only that also, and not only the Ministry of Health but all other line ministries and government institutions, there's a huge, huge contribution of the diaspora network and I think the only window I can say that they were able to come to the country was through this program and and I think for the past few months I've been hearing back on thought that there is going to be shortages of sustainability of this. This is somehow something that I really would like to take this opportunity to address this conference that we really need this kind of transverse transferable skills, then in the throughout the country, and such things will be better if we look through a sustainability lens. So, and if, for example, the in my section, the health sector, all the pro there have been these staffs or expatriates have been contributing into the all and very, very key important and places that I previously mentioned like a infectious and medicine department, the laboratory assurance of the quality and quality controls, and also at advocating and policies. So, I'm really glad that I am part of this panel. And I've also been working very closely in IOM country offices, Somalia and also the regional office at Nairobi, we have been trying to see how together we can make sure that these programs are sustainable, and we have, you know, this pool of experts circulating within the country at every moment I think, and the people at the diaspora need to need, I think this is, I've been myself at diaspora for many years. I think most people really are eager back to contribute back to the country, but people sometimes, and, you know, find themselves helpless they don't know how they can contribute, you know, how can they make sure that you know, they can go back to the country and I think such programs of you know, and telling them, yes, you want to contribute, this is, you need your expertise, reverse brain drain to the country is very, very important and milestone. And I'm also working with the country office here to make sure that I advocate as a national and also as an executive director for the National Institute of Health. And really to advocate for maintenance and sustainability of these programs across the country. And in terms of remittance, really it is, I saw in a few scientific and publications documents that have been published here in the country about the social economic impacts of COVID-19 and the remittance. I think it is no doubt that really COVID has disrupted the health, not only the health sector, but also economically. It really made people, you know, and some people are isolated in their own home countries, or in their adopted countries, they cannot go out and send for some of the people they have been layoffs in many countries and that's due to the COVID impact. And this is really a big, big problem. One of the programs also when I serve doctor and infectious medicine, like we have been seeing mixed messages given to the patients, for example, in COVID when you are suspected of having a COVID-19, we are told stay at home isolate yourself. And now here in my country, we have like if you see fever, there is a malaria problem in infection. Malaria infection has high fever. And you are told to stay at home when you get fever. And it might be malaria. So this is, you know, some of the messages that really and across the globe needs to be affected. So, and really, and when I see most of the programs across the country, people are concentrated on, you know, COVID-19, but I have not seen really maternal healthcare and pregnant women and COVID-19 cases. You know this, we have tried to adopt it and the documents and procedures to fix it to this. I think the impact of COVID is still ongoing and the worst of all is life when as a country we received and the nation of vaccines from well wishers and the COVAX facilities. Actually, when we received the vaccines, it was a time whereby there was been a lot of rumors about the vaccines and what has been some of the rumors. So we are trying and now we are very glad to have received the vaccine and the vaccines uptake is improving. And I think across Africa and Mauritania has reached a 10% target of the vaccine. We are also making sure that the people are vaccinated. I think that is the only way that COVID-19 is here to stay with us. People have been having the issues that the disease is going away, but vaccination I think is the way forward. And we really make it work in closing with all our diaspora networks so that they are able to contribute. Also, on the health sector, if I say overall, some of the essential health packages have been, you know, some of the diseases like the TB programs and other diseases have really went COVID has taken over the headlines. These diseases are still here, the neglected infections, diseases, everything, but everybody focus was COVID, COVID, and still those diseases that are here have not been addressed. So I would really like to take this opportunity to inform the panel and everybody and the donors, maybe if they can hear this, that COVID is here, yes, but other diseases are also here and some of the countries, the third world countries, and that really have been struggling before with these infectious diseases. And the pandemic has really, yes, it is there, but it has really made other diseases visible, but they're still there. So we really need, I want to also light shape on that. And my request is that I think such forums for dialogue and discussions are really, really, and very important, and I have benefited to hearing from colleagues in the panel and Veronica, Leon, and Pires, when able to benefit what we have said from and get the insight, I think is a good platform for discussions and insights so that we are able really to see and contribute to the bits and bits of the issues that we discussed. So thank you very much. And today is Friday. That's why I'm dressed like this is normally an off day here in Somalia. So I'm really glad to be here with you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Dr. Abdi Fatah. And I didn't realize that you were sacrificing your day off. So particularly thank you for joining us. And indeed, what you've spoken about the complexity of responding to multiple crises. And again, the importance of really remaining agile and reacting and partnering and bringing all the processes together is absolutely crucial. And the fact that you spoke about malaria and to be still being around, I can imagine how hard it is indeed in the conditions when you don't have the good health system in place and the overwhelming evidence that you spoke about of how actually migrant communities and are supporting with the response in the case of your country and your institutions. So there's one question which I would like to really pose to all the panelists but also all the participants of this session because we only have maybe 10 minutes left. I do know that there is one intervention from the representative of Azerbaijan, which we would like to really give the floor to, but the overwhelming question which I would like everyone to think about, and I will return to it is moving forward again, each of you has spoken about the importance of coming together, the bringing evidence, becoming more sophisticated in capturing data, advocating for the importance of connections with the migrant communities, the Aspar communities. These are real people, real cases, actually a lot of us have this migrant background in our blood, in our histories. So, and when we look into the International Migration Forum review and the global dialogue for migration, which we are supporting with the implementation. And this is the topic of the next panel, which is happening in 10 minutes. So we have learned from our colleagues from the secretariat that objective 19 about contributions of migrants and objective 20 about remittances are some ones, the ones which the governments haven't been really bringing a lot of evidence forward. When we started looking into the voluntary review and reports from the countries in terms of the global compact migration governance, these objectives are not finding sufficient evidence, sufficient space in the reports. So how can we ensure that moving towards the discussions in 2022 and looking into the compact with all the objectives which really is there to advocate for the contribution of migrants. So how can we, which measures can we take together to ensure that this content this these aspects of migration governance and partnership with diaspora and remittances and partnership with private sector the, the remittance industry that they are really not lost in in the process that we are not forgetting about those important policy areas so that's to everyone to the panelists please you'll I'll definitely go back to you with one maybe a minute response but now I'm opening the floor for everyone to contribute with your questions answers also those who have joined us online. Please pick up your questions to our panelists or answers to my question, but before I'm giving the floor to the distinguished representative of Azerbaijan, who wanted to make an intervention please do we have. Yeah. Okay online I see you please. No. Can you hear me well. We hear you very well please proceed. Okay, thank you. It's an honor for me to join this panel on behalf of the state migration service of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged human mobility and migration management across the whole world. With measures introduced by governments to flatten the curve of infections, the COVID-19 pandemic has already greatly impacted mobility and migration. To mitigate the negative impacts of COVID-19 Azerbaijan was guided with the best practices of the majority of countries and recommendations of international organizations. During the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic Azerbaijan built its migration policy on maximum convenience of migrants, reducing the administrative procedures, almost to zero and broad promotion of digitalization. In order to raise awareness of migrants on the procedures applied we increased our focus on information campaigns targeted to specific migrant groups. Moreover, despite all the limitations related with pandemic, a number of social assistance projects have been implemented for vulnerable groups. For Azerbaijan, IEM remains a key partner in the field of migration partnerships. IEM's timely involvement and support to migrants and countries has become more vital in face of preventing the pandemic. In this regard, we highly appreciate the regional project for source caucuses aimed at promoting migrant inclusive response to COVID-19 assisting stranded and vulnerable migrants in the region. We are currently working on several projects in line with the GCM with the support and contribution of IEM. One of the recently launched projects with the support of IEM development fund aims to establish a regional training center on migration in Azerbaijan, which would assist to improve the process of training and education related to migration in the region and to invest in the capacity building on migration and development. Among the various policies and activities conducted by the government of Azerbaijan for implementation of GCM objectives, support to evidence-based policymaking upholding the existing international level and policy frameworks, particularly GCM and SDGs are worth to mention. The other important initiative towards fulfilling our commitments within GCM is the establishment of the United Nations Network on Migration in Azerbaijan in July 2020. I am delighted to note that currently jointly with IEM, we are working on a new project on improving the socio-economic effects of remittances in Azerbaijan. The State Migration Service pays special attention to the improvement of dialogue with all stakeholders of migration processes, thus the development of relations with the private sector and application of innovative methods in migration management is always on the agenda. In this regard, an advisory board was established under the State Migration Service to bring together entrepreneurs functioning in our country. The main objective of the board is to deliver necessary information about work limits to employers and to promote regular migration. Dear ladies and gentlemen, unfortunately, I am now obliged to comment on what has been said by the representative of Armenia in his statement yesterday. Also, the statement abused this platform in order to cover up its real political intentions, in particular its failed policy of aggression and occupation against Azerbaijan. It is really interesting to see a representative of a country which has posed for displacement of more than one million persons with its ethnic cleansing and aggression policy to build its statement around people on the move by false accusations and brownlist claims. Therefore, we would like to stress that the act of capitulation, which was signed on November 10, has brought an end to a 30-year-long occupation by Armenia of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan and has restored historical justice in our region. Another offensive operation of Azerbaijan that started in September of 2020 was aimed at protection of its population as well as restoration of its territorial integrity, officially recognized by the international community, including through relevant UN Security Council resolutions that will enable return of more than 750,000 displaced people to their homelands in safety and with dignity. Secondly, the international community has witnessed numerous instances of indiscriminate and deliberate shelling by Armenia of Azerbaijan civilians and civilian objects located both in close vicinity too, and far beyond the area of military operations using ballistic missiles and custom munitions that resulted in killing of 101 Azerbaijan civilians, including children, women and elderly, and enduring more than 423 people in the streets and cities of Azerbaijan. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in their statements also confirmed the use of class diminutions by Armenia during those missile attacks. In the end, we call on Armenia, instead of abusing this platform and accusing Azerbaijan with fabricated and grand list statements to stop spreading the ideas of revanchism and hate it against Azerbaijan and to take steps towards the peace treaty on the basis of mutual recognition of territorial integrity, sovereignty and internationally recognized borders. Thank you for attention. Thank you very much for your intervention and I would like to also refer to collaboration with your state migration service during the Marrakesh summit we had a joint event. We were discussing the global compact for migration in December 2018 your representative was with us in Marrakesh actually advocating for the importance of engaging with migrant communities and diaspora organizations and and I was really excited to hear about the measures that you've taken in terms of setting the advisory council with entrepreneurs residing abroad. So I think, indeed, the experiences we have shared today are absolutely very interesting and important I'm looking at our colleagues to see whether we still have any questions from the audience online any interventions to my question in terms of how we can enhance the, you know, this joint messaging advocacy for this specific to objectives. One idea that we had in our organization was to really take stock and really go back to that platform of a dialogue with member states but also diaspora following the model we had in 2013 of the ministerial. So one idea that we have come up with is to organize a global diaspora summit. So we are welcoming feedback on such an initiative and soon we will be approaching member states and other partners in terms of really defining a possibility of such an event. So you have a lot of spoiler towards your end but now before we close and I know that our, the next session is extremely important maybe very very brief response to the question of how we can really ensure that in the next month we are pulling together advocacy and messaging to with the in the all the dialogues and platforms in the next month 2012 22 moving towards the global compact for migration which will be reviewed in the first half of the year. So let me turn to the panelists and we maybe Veronica very brief, literally 30 seconds to you if I can, you know, your final statement and suggestions over. Yes, of course, I would suggest strong strong and sustainable partnerships with all between all stakeholders and less remittance washing. Interesting remittance washing I really picked up a lot of very interesting ideas from your side thank you for being with us and thank you for suggestion and and really confirmation that such dialogue such platforms are important please Leon for you maybe the same question or final statement. So moving forward, what would be your recommendation. Well I think, but just on what I discussed earlier I think it's really moving from having a theoretical approach to really countries adopting and practicing improved ways of measuring, bringing more imagination and I think a lot of this is about really raising awareness that it is possible to do this in the past I think it's always been viewed as too hard. I think we need to get out there and really publicize show examples of countries that do it well, and really introduce it we have to sell it, I think, in many ways and sell the benefits of doing it. Not very revolutionary, but I think we just have to get on and do it now. It's very important something with our organization is very much committed to you know we, we are the biggest, we have the biggest part of the works really happening in the country's regional offices so. And yes, so, so the data they did the measuring the the information is absolutely crucial. Mr Paris from your side, what would be your maybe final quick either answer to my question about GCM implementation, should do we need platforms for gatherings, in addition to the ones we have, or anything that you would like to share with us please. The platforms are gathering very important these spaces for us are our spaces that we, we get to hear other experiences, and we will be reaching out to Mr Isaacs, very shortly to start looking to be measuring of our I think, as long as we know more, we know what way we have to walk. So, with the diaspora, that sounds very, very keen for us so so looking forward to keep on being part of these dialogue platforms and thank you very much. Thank you and Dr have the fat up please your final remarks suggestions recommendations. Thank you very much I think I was having internet problems with the bandwidth was not up and back. And thank you very much I think my recommendations will be in continuous engaging and you know dialogue creating platforms for dialogue to make sure that we are able to see and also encouraging the sustainability of this program so creating awareness among the best for the importance of this. Thank you. Absolutely sustainability of our initiatives on the ground is also absolutely crucial yes and how do we build capacities on the ground to continue engaging with diaspora this is absolutely important. I'd like to thank everyone, every single one of you I hope you, you really enjoyed being with us certainly us myself and I hope I'm representing the opinion of our speakers our participants sitting here in person but also those who have been with us online. Thank you for this really insightful discussion food for thought and I'm happy to hear that there are already networks being built and connections created that was the purpose, and over to my colleagues for the continuation of the other panels and thank you everyone once again. Thank you Marina. Thank you panelists. We are coming to the now next and the last panel this road to MRF we just the clean the, the, the panel itself for DG that was just coming in the room. Thank you.