The World Bank and the Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI) organize the first regional MENA diaspora workshop to be held in Marseille, France, on May 29^th, 2015.

The workshop brings together policy makers, development actors and members of diaspora from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to discuss how to best mobilize the MENA diaspora to facilitate regional and global economic integration of their home countries.

Regional Context

At least 18 million MENA citizens live abroad, and for some countries, they represent a significant share of their population (e.g., Lebanon, Palestine). They are also the source of critical revenues in countries such as Morocco. Governments have usually considered emigrants as a positive resource for home countries’ economies for three main reasons: (1) they reduce the pressure on the domestic labor market in times of high unemployment; (2) they contribute to reducing poverty through money transfer; (3) they facilitate transfer of knowledge and know-how from abroad.

While the benefits arising from remittances have drawn attention of policy makers and development partners, there is still little attention given to the contribution of diaspora in terms of investment, business creation, trade, knowledge transfer, and professional networking. This aspect is nonetheless critical, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, one of the least integrated regions in the world, and which suffers from lackluster private sector investment and entrepreneurship.

The Arab Spring has given hope and room for policy and institutional reforms and has opened doors to more business players in the region. Governments in MENA have recognized the importance of the diaspora at different levels and in different ways. Their actions vary from simple recognition in public speeches, to implementing programs and sometimes institutions to maintain and strengthen the identity link with home country, attract their investment, or reduce the cost of remittances’ transfer.

Scope of the Activity

The activity seeks to foster an understanding of how to strengthen diaspora business contributions to their home countries. It explores mechanisms through which diaspora members can contribute to the globalization of the MENA region and highlights the role of governments, diaspora members and development partners.

The workshop focuses on 5 MENA countries where there is either an active diaspora agenda/activity, or where the World Bank has initiated some dialogue with diaspora associations or the government, mainly: Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia.

This one-day workshop is composed of three major sessions:

Session 1 – The voice of Diaspora: The 1^st session sheds light on MENA diaspora expectations and motivations in light of recent developments in the region and shares successful and inspiring non-MENA diaspora-led initiatives that have contributed to the development of a sector and created businesses and jobs in home country.

Session 2 – Government Programs to Mobilize Diaspora: The 2^nd sessions Discusses government programs and the work of development institutions dedicated to mobilize diaspora investments and trade opportunities.   

Session 3 – Key Takeaways and Country Specific Priorities: The 3^rd session Identifies policy priority areas and projects that different stakeholders can undertake.

Expected Outputs

The workshop will also present the findings from an online survey and series of consultations previously held with diaspora members in Paris, New York, and Washington DC.

The results of the survey, focus groups, and outcomes of the workshop will better inform the World Bank, development agencies, think tanks and the respective governments on policies and programs that could enhance the role of residents abroad and their contributions to regional economic development of the private sector and local expertise in their country of origin.

Links to Resources

• Photo album of the workshop
• Press release (English)
• Agenda (English and French)
• List of participants (English and French) and participant's biographies (English)

Experts’ views (Video interviews in French and English)

• Mobilizing MENA Diaspora - Expert’s View – Imelda NICOLAS
• Mobilizing MENA Diaspora - Expert’s View – Uri DADUSH
• Mobilizing MENA Diaspora - Expert’s View – Georges AKIKI
• Mobilizing MENA Diaspora - Expert’s View – Abderrazek ELHAJRI
• Mobilizing MENA Diaspora - Expert’s View – Karim MANSOUR-DAHBI
• Mobilizing MENA Diaspora - Expert’s View – Anis MNIF

Participants PowerPoint presentations

• Session 1- The voice of the diaspora

  • Ms. Mariem Malouche, Senior Economist, the World Bank: “Findings of the World Bank MENA diaspora survey"

  • Mr. Rajat Kathuria, Director and Chief Executive, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, India (via Webex), “The role of the Indian diaspora in the development of the Indian IT sector, and comparison with the Taiwanese case”

  • Mr. Anis Mnif, Tunisian American Young Professionals, Tunisia/USA: “Handicraft export project”

  • Mr. George Akiki, Co-founder and President of LebNet, Lebanon/USA

  • Mr. Abderrazek El Hajri, Director, Migrations & Development association, Morocco/France

• Session 2: Governments’ programs to mobilize diaspora

  • Ms. Imelda M. Nicolas, Chairperson of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, Office of the President, Philippines: “The Philippine Government Program to mobilize Diaspora”

  • Ms. Sonia Plaza, Senior Economist, Migration and Remittances Team, Development Prospects Group, the World Bank : “Experience with investment instruments”

  • Mr. Sebastien Dagault, CEO, LiNXEO, France : “Governments programs in Maghreb”

  • Mr. Mathias Fillon, Program Manager, ANIMA Investment Network, France: “Government programs in Mashreq”

  • Mr. Michael Newson, Migration and Development Specialist, International Organization for Migration, Egypt : “Support to government policies and strategies in MENA”

• Session 3 - Key takeaways and country specific priorities: panel discussion with policy makers and development partners

  • Mr. Sebastien Dagault, CEO, LiNXEO, France: “Diaspora CONNECT platform”

  • Mr. Dilip Ratha, Lead Economist, the World Bank (via Webex): “Remittances, Investment and role of the World Bank”

  • Mr. Emmanuel Noutary, General Delegate, ANIMA Investment Network, France

  • Ms. Macarena Nuno, Project Officer, IPEMED, France

Photos 

Contact:

Mariem Malouche
Senior Economist
Middle East and North Africa region
World Bank
imena@worldbank.org