23 May 2014 - The Philippine Embassy in Rome, led by Philippine Ambassador to Italy Virgilio Reyes, participated in the 2014 edition of the Global Forum on Remittances (GFR), which was successfully convened by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Bangkok, Thailand from May 12 to 14.
In his speech during the forum, Ambassador Reyes discussed how remittances can empower Philippine rural communities.
The Ambassador reiterated the Embassy’s commitment to cooperate with the IFAD in achieving higher incomes and improving food security by scaling-up the impact of remittances for the development of rural economies.
Ambassador Reyes related how the Embassy has conducted various investment awareness forums which aim to put the overseas Filipinos’ remittance money to more beneficial use.
He said that most of our overseas Filipinos in Italy have relatives not in the urban areas of Metro Manila, but in the provinces and towns where our overseas Filipinos have originated. Thus, Philippine provinces such as Batangas, Quezon, Mindoro, Laguna, Cavite, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Pangasinan, La Union, Isabela and Bulacan are the primary beneficiaries of Filipino remittances from Italy.
Ambassador Reyes also said that the Embassy shall continue to further promote the financial literacy of Filipinos in Italy so that they understand their options. “We have been constantly cooperating with the Philippine financial services sector with presence in Italy to develop more attractive and efficient tools specifically targeted at Filipino migrant workers and their families,” said the Ambassador.
The Ambassador said that the Philippines is a model of synergy between the government, IFAD and civil society in empowering our rural communities to achieve higher incomes and improve food security by scaling-up the impact of remittances.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development is a specialized agency of the United Nations based in Rome and dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries. END