The Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund MIF and the Institute of the Americas will hold a conference on Friday, February 2 in Mexico City on investments backed by the remittances sent by Mexican migrants living abroad.
The event will be held at the Sheraton Hotel in Mexico City’s Centro Histórico from 9 AM to 5 PM, with presentations by MIF Manager Donald F. Terry and Institute of the Americas President Amb. Jeffrey Davidow.
Pollster Sergio Bendixen, president of the Miami-based firm Bendixen & Associates, will present the results of an opinion survey conducted among Mexicans who send or receive remittances. Last year Mexico received some $25 billion from its expatriates, mostly from the United States.
The conference will feature workshops in which panelists and participants will discuss current projects and alternative proposals to link remittances with housing, savings, family businesses, rural production and community development projects.
The MIF, an autonomous fund managed by the IDB, promotes private sector development in Latin America and the Caribbean, with an emphasis on microenterprise and small business. Its pioneering work on remittances helped reveal the magnitude and impact of these flows. It also spurred competition among providers, which helped cut the cost of money transfers to the region.
The Institute of the Americas, an independent, non-profit institution at the University of California, San Diego, promotes development and integration, emphasizing the role of the private sector as a means to improve the economic, political, and social wellbeing of the people of the Americas.