at the same time, remittances can have a major positive impact on the development of a receiving country as a whole. at the macroeconomic level, remittances have positive effects on the balance of payments. for the receiving country, remittances are non - debt creating inflows, comparable to foreign direct investment. the exhibition in this museum vividly illustrates the origins, the development and the future prospects of the information society. again, there are some parallels with our conference. first, we are looking at the origins of remittances within the context of international migration. then, we are also examining the development of the flow of remittances against the backdrop of technological progress and changes in migration patterns. finally, we are discussing measures to improve the framework for remittances. more specifically, we will look into issues such as • lowering the cost of remitting, • bringing both senders and receivers into the financial system, • increasing the benefits migrants can gain from the financial system, • counteracting adverse macroeconomic impacts, and • improving the collection of remittance data. iii. the bundesbank has prepared a paper for the conference which provides an overview of the german remittance market. this paper shows that germany is one of the most important sending countries for remittances and is number four worldwide. last year, germany received euro 5. 2 billion from the rest of the world and remitted euro 9. 5 billion. roughly one - third of remittances sent from germany go to countries of the european union. turkey and serbia receive the bulk of those remittances which go outside the european union. almost all payments from germany to eu countries are executed by banks, which highlights the fact that a well - functioning market infrastructure and cost - effective payment systems are in place. there is evidence and growing awareness among banks of the commercial potential of the remittances business. in germany, competition in the financial sector ensures quite reasonable prices for remittance services, at least as far as sending costs are concerned. in the case of turkey, the most important receiver country of german migrant payments, remittances are processed mainly by turkish banks in germany or by financial service providers with a close link to turkish banks. in some other countries, money transfer providers outside the banking sector play an important role. the decision to involve a remittance provider other than a bank depends on the degree of

hermann remsperger : remittances welcome speech by professor dr hermann remsperger, member of the executive board of the deutsche bundesbank, at the g8 outreach meeting on " remittances ", berlin, 29 november 2007. * * * i. it is my pleasure to welcome you to this dinner on the occasion of the g8 outreach meeting on “ remittances ”. i would also like to welcome you on behalf of karin kortmann, parliamentary secretary of the federal ministry for economic cooperation and development. as far as i know, this is the first time that the federal ministry for economic cooperation and development and the bundesbank jointly host such a dinner. i could well imagine that there will be further opportunities to do so in the future. as a central bank, we take a keen interest in financial sector issues, because monetary stability and financial stability go hand in hand. therefore, we are closely following the world bank ’ s financial market activities, including its strategies for strengthening the financial systems in developing and emerging market economies. in this context, let me mention a conference we organised jointly with the federal ministry of finance in frankfurt in may this year. this conference provided input for the g8 action plan for the development of local bond markets in emerging market and developing countries. and i am happy to say that we will continue to play an active role in this area. in close cooperation with the finance ministry, the bundesbank is organizing a workshop at the end of january which will primarily deal with the broadening of the database on local currency bond markets in the light of financial stability. furthermore, the bundesbank has also built up direct ties with the ministry for economic cooperation and development. this gives us a useful insight into the activities of the world bank and the regional development banks. equally, we are happy to share our technical expertise on financial market issues with your ministry, ms kortmann, as background information for the german position at these institutions. ii. ladies and gentlemen, we are here today in the museum for communication. i think this location was well chosen. communication and remittances have some things in common – both involve a sender and a receiver. if the process of relating the sender to the receiver is well designed, it should be beneficial to both. in the context of remittances and seen from the perspective of an individual receiver, remittances can be a substantial part of household income.