Executive summary -- Introduction: international migrant remittances and their role in development / Thomas Straubhaar and Florin P. Vadean -- Pt. 1. Financial flows generated by emigration and their impact on regional development: 1. Migrant remittances and their impact on development in the home economies: the case of Africa / Flore Gubert -- 2. The remittances of Moroccan emigrants and their usage / Bachir Hamdouch -- 3. Mexico: international migration, remittances and development / Rodolfo Garcia Zamora -- 4. Migration, remittances and their impact on economic development / Ahmet Icduygu -- 5. Migration policies, remittances and economic development in the Philippines / Carmelita Dimzon -- Pt. 2. Remittances and financial infrastructure: challenges and prospects: 6. Principal channels and costs of remittances: the case of Turkey / Elif Koksal and Thomas Liebig -- 7. Western Union and the world market for remittances / Khalid Fellahi and Susana de Lima -- 8. The MoneySend and MasterCard services / Olivier Denis -- Annex to Pt. 2. Financial infrastructures and remittance via the banking system and other channels: the cases of Portugal, Morocco, Latin America and the Caribbean / José Nascimento Ribeiro, Laidi El Wardi and Mustapha Khyar, Pedro de Vasconcelos -- Pt. 3. Macroeconomic impact of remittances: 9. What is the macroeconomic impact of international remittances on the home country? / Jackline Wahba -- 10. Macroeconomic impact of remittances / Sena Eken -- 11. Emigrants' remittances - A potentially important development tool: the case of Italy / Ricardo Settimo-- 12. Remittances and development: the case of Greece / Nicholas Glytsos -- 13. Do international migration and remittances reduce poverty in developing countries? / Richard Adams and John Page -- Pt. 4. Recent initiatives to channel remittances towards development: 14. Social learning as a productive project: the Tres por Uno (Three for One) experience in Zacatecas, Mexico / Natasha Iskander -- 15. Migration, remittances and economic initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa / Babacar Sall -- 16. "Migration and Development": a non-governmental organisation involved in co-development / Nadia Bentaleb and Jamal Lahoussein -- Pt. 5. Remittances and promotion of development: some proposals: 17. Incorporating insights from migration research into policy on remittances / Jorgen Carling -- 18. Turning remittances into investments / Daniela Bobeva -- 19. Motivating migrants for social and economic development in Mali and Senegal / Mireille Raunet -- 20. The support of non-governmental organisations in the collection of remittances / Jacques Ould Aoudia -- 21. Some lessons from the Agence Francaise de Développement in the field of co-development / Guillaume Cruse -- Conclusions / Berglind Asgeirsdóttir.

This publication presents the current situation with regard to the magnitude and economic impact of migrants' remittances to their countries of origin. In 2004, remittances exceeded official development aid in several emigration countries: they totalled USD 126 billion according to IMF estimates.