MPI Issues New Book Examining How Developing Countries Are Creating Institutions to Strengthen Ties with Their Citizens Abroad

The Migration Policy Institute (MPI) today released a new book which examines the institutions that developing countries have created to engage more systematically with their citizens living abroad. Closing the Distance: How Governments Can Strengthen Ties with Their Diasporas offers an unprecedented taxonomy of the diaspora-engaging institutions found in 30 developing countries. The volume, edited and with an introductory chapter by MPI Policy Analyst Dovelyn Rannveig Agunias, also includes chapters written by senior practitioners from Mexico, the Philippines and Mali. At a time when emigrants and their descendents increasingly are seen as agents of development, the book explores the activities and objectives of 45 diaspora-engaging institutions in 30 countries. It also provides important perspectives from the country case studies offered by Carlos González Gutiérrez, Consul General of Mexico in Sacramento and former Executive Director of the Institute of Mexicans Abroad; Patricia A. Sto. Tomas, Chairman of the Development Bank of the Philippines and former Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment; and Badara Aliou Macalou, Minister of Malians Abroad and African Integration.

For more information on the book or to order a copy, please visit: www.migrationpolicy.org/research/migration_development.php

KJ