India, Pakistan, others tell WTO to facilitate cross-border remittance transfers fairly

New Delhi: India, Pakistan, Morocco and the 45-member Africa Group on Tuesday asked members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to commit to promote an international financial system to facilitate cross-border remittance transfers under fair and low-cost conditions. Ahead of the ministerial conference of the WTO, they also sought a multilateral framework on guiding principles of transparency, interoperability and competition in remittance services.

The proposal builds on India's earlier submission on lowering cost of cross-border remittances for promoting international trade, said an official.

They also urged the WTO Committee on Trade in Financial Services to examine regulatory, technical and structural barriers contributing to high transfer costs.


"Encourage the establishment of technical assistance programmes in favour of developing and least-developed countries to strengthen their regulatory, technological and institutional capacities in the area of cross-border payments," they said in the draft ministerial declaration.

Earlier, New Delhi had pushed for promoting interoperability and interlinkages of digital payment infrastructures including fast payment systems to lower transaction costs. Lower transaction costs are key to reducing inequality within and among countries, especially in developing countries such as India, since the global average cost for sending remittances is 6.18%, more than twice the target to lower them below 3% under Sustainable Development Goals.