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Berlin, November 22, 2004
2004-071

Canada and India to Work on More Effective, Affordable Remittance Systems

Minister of Finance for Canada, Ralph Goodale, and Indian Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram approved a partnership to improve the current remittance system between the two countries, following the annual meeting of G-20 Finance Ministers in Berlin.

"Remittance flows are an essential and growing source of income and capital for many developing countries, so this partnership will have a lasting impact for families with ties and savings in both Canada and India," said Minister Goodale. "It will ultimately lead to more affordable, convenient and secure options for transferring money between individuals in our two countries, and for providing the investment needed for families to fund education, housing and small business start-ups."

Under the partnership, the Governments of Canada and India agree to:

• identify financial institutions that may be interested in cooperating on initiatives to reduce the cost of remittance services;

• remove any regulatory or other obstacles that may unnecessarily complicate these transactions; and

• improve the quality of statistics measuring remittance flows between Canada and India.

Canada, together with other G-8 countries, pledged to explore remittance partnerships with key developing countries at this year’s G-8 Summit at Sea Island, Georgia. India is the world’s largest recipient of remittance payments, at over US$10 billion a year. While remittance payments are usually a few hundred dollars per transaction, total remittances worldwide have now risen to US$100 billion a year.

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