CAIRO: Remittances coming from Egyptians abroad increased to more than US $9.75 billion during fiscal year 2009-2010, an increase of 39 percent over the year before, Egypt`s official news agency, MENA, quoted a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Remittances come third after oil and tourism as a source of national income, Assistant Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdel Hakam said during a conference discussing the role of the transfers in domestic development. Abdel Hakam added that according to the statistics of the Ministry of Labor and Immigration, the number of Egyptians working abroad ranges between six to seven million, 70 percent of whom live in the Gulf States. The other 30 percent are divided among the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Australia. Hakam explained that the largest sum of transfers came from Egyptians living the U.S., who sent $22 billion, followed by $1.5 billion from Kuwait, and $1 billion from Saudi Arabia. BM