June 29, 2005
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U.S. and Guatemala Launch Summit of the Americas Remittance Partnership

The U.S. Treasury Department and the Guatemalan government today announced the launch of a remittance partnership to facilitate the reduction of the cost of sending remittances and create an environment where their potential contribution to economic and financial-sector development is maximized.

"Our bilateral work will be focused on concrete actions designed to foster the realization of this commitment and will help create a template for future bilateral remittance work in the region," said U.S. Treasury Secretary John W. Snow. "This initiative will focus on fostering competition, efficiency and accessibility in the remittance market. Financial literacy programs, payment system modernization, and appropriate modifications to the regulatory environment are expected to be important elements of the work. We will aim to modernize the Guatemalan payment system while laying the groundwork for eventual harmonization with the U.S. system. Our governments will address relevant policy issues and seek to eliminate unnecessary regulatory obstacles to competition in the remittance market."

Guatemalan Vice-President Eduardo Stein and U.S. Ambassador John R. Hamilton will hold a press conference in Guatemala today to launch this initiative.

Guatemala has been selected as the first pilot country in this broad regional initiative. The Administration joined Western Hemisphere counterparts in committing to this goal at the Special Summit of the Americas in January of 2004 as an avenue to foster growth throughout the Hemisphere. The specific goal of the Summit of the Americas is to take concrete actions to create the conditions to bring down the cost of sending remittances by 50 percent by 2008.

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