Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies
and gentlemen,

Let me begin by expressing both my sincere
appreciation to my friend Enrique Iglesias for hosting this
conference and the honour and pleasure it has been for IOM to be
together with ECLAC its organizational partner. The timeliness of
the conference is of course, underlined by the fact that it is held
shortly before the UN High Level Dialogue on International
Migration and Development. It is also an honour to have this
opportunity to be at this plenary with my distinguish colleagues
and friends from other international organizations and governments
to share with you IOM’s views on the challenges of
international migration in today's world and particularly on the
nexus between migration and Development.

In many ways, for me, Iberoamerica is among
the most interesting arenas for migration management today. Change
is coming fast in all Iberoamerican countries. A new paradigm is
developing. The public, political and media debate about migration
policies has become intense and sometimes difficult. Deep trends
are at play and strong interests are engaged - in politics,
economics, demography and social affairs.

International cooperation is a key element to
managing migration better. In the effort to build better
international cooperation, you in the Iberoamerican space should be
where you belong - in the lead. You have already given more
thought than most regions to this issue - and the framework of the
Declaration of Salamanca of 2005 and the deliberations that would
surely take place in the forthcoming Summit in Montevideo in
November 2006 should serve the basis on which to forge a common
Iberoamerican policy and vision to managing migration. For me, as
Director General of IOM, it is particularly gratifying to see the
policy debate on migration in Iberoamerica is advancing rapidly and
on a broad front. But the most essential ingredient of all is
leadership. You, Iberoamerican countries, have a vital role to play
in providing that leadership.

Many of the countries represented here today
have participated in other important meetings over the past few
months in preparation for the High-Level Dialogue, where IOM has
similarly had the pleasure to contribute. In this region, the Sixth
South American Conference on Migration took place in Asuncion at
the beginning of May, at the same time that the 11th Regional
Conference on Migration (or Puebla Process), covering North,
Central America and Dominican Republic, was meeting in San
Salvador.

This series of regional meetings was preceded
by a major global Conference on Migration and Development which
took place in Brussels in March, co-sponsored by the Government of
Belgium, the EC, the World Bank and IOM. The past month of June and
this month of July there have been additional HLD-related events in
Turin, New York, Madrid and Geneva, to name but a few and only few
days ago took place in Rabat the European-African Summit on
Migration and Development. This impressive list provides us, I
believe, with the most striking evidence of the prominence of
migration on the agendas of Governments around the world. The
convening of the UN High-Level Dialogue has acted as the catalyst
for this process, but the issues at stake transcend that single
event.

International migration is not a problem in
itself. Mobility of labour may in some circumstances be beneficial
for the economies of both the source and destination countries. For
the migrants themselves having an option to change labour market is
clearly an opportunity. Yet migration may become a problem where
there is a mismatch between the push factors in source countries
and the policies of destination countries. This seems to be
increasingly the case in our times, to a point where migrational
pressures are perceived as security threats.

The trend towards increased international
migration appears to result from all aspects of the globalisation
process in combination and of continued huge income gaps between
different countries. Globalisation clearly boosts the pull factors
of migration through increased flows of knowledge, media coverage,
ideas and cultural values as well as through increased mobility of
tradable goods and services as well as capital. Increased
travelling and familiarity with opportunities in foreign countries
triggers increased mobility of people. In addition poverty,
environmental degradation, political instability and human rights
abuses clearly fuel the push factors for migration from some
regions of the world.

Today, I shall focus my remarks on the subject
of International Migration and Development and how the HLD can
contribute to understanding that relationship better, and to
enhancing the positive potential of migration.

What is the relationship between migration and
development? As with many complex issues, there is unfortunately no
simple answer – and especially so when people are involved.
What there is, is a two-way, positive and negative connection
between migration and development. Migration can be both a cause
and a result of underdevelopment. Underdevelopment, in turn, can be
either alleviated or exacerbated by migration. These general
statements illustrate that migration cannot be categorically seen
as either an obstacle to development, or as a strategy for its
achievement. At the global level, evidence shows that migration has
a net positive impact; however, its effect on development in
individual countries and communities depends on the political,
social, legal and economic environments in which migration takes
place, and on the characteristics, resources and behaviour of
individual migrants.

This overall positive assessment represents a
significant shift in thinking from a predominantly negative view
which prevailed in the 1980s, for example. Before, the emphasis was
on the need to eradicate the root causes of migration, brain drain,
labour force depletion and rural exodus. Now, while legitimate
concerns remain in some of your countries to reduce migration of
certain categories of skilled workers, for instance, there is also
a growing interest in and recognition of the economic, social and
cultural contributions of migrants and how migration can help
alleviate demographic and labour market pressures in both countries
of origin and destination.

Let me now touch briefly on a few main
elements of the migration/development nexus specific to countries
of destination.

Migration can bring substantial macro-economic
benefits to destination countries by mitigating labour shortages,
enhancing human capital formation, and creating the job
opportunities and wealth which come from migrant entrepreneurial
activities and the demand for goods and services they create. These
are also factors which can increase the flexibility and
productivity of the economy as a whole, and contribute to
growth.

Many destination countries have traditionally
adopted restrictive approaches to immigration based on concerns
that migration can undermine local wages and working conditions and
create security and social problems. Evidence shows, however, that
migration has minimal negative effect on wages and employment in
host countries. Moreover, no direct correlation between migration
and unemployment has been found.

To avoid potential negative effects in
countries of destination, the challenges of migration have to be
addressed. While many countries have come to embrace the diversity
that migration brings to their society, there remains the need to
preserve social stability and cohesion and to ensure mutually
beneficial relationships between migrants and destination
communities. In short, migration needs to be managed through
proactive, comprehensive and coherent governmental policies.

Let’s turn now to some of the
development impacts of migration on countries of origin, an issue
of major relevance for all of you.

One of the key benefits of migration for
countries of origin is the positive impact of remittances on
poverty reduction, foreign reserves and the balance of payments.
There is also growing recognition of the value of knowledge and
skills-transfer when migrants return home – whether
temporarily or permanently, and whether physically or virtually.
“Virtually” because technology has made possible new
and dynamic linkages between diasporas and their countries of
origin via internet – and more and more migrants and
countries of origin are exploring them. Another readily apparent
benefit lies in a certain level of relief from unemployment and
underemployment. And very importantly, migration can also lead to
the empowerment of women and indigenous populations who have often
been marginalized in other contexts.

But there are also potentially negative
effects of migration on countries of origin. Dependency of a
country’s economy on the remittances of migrants is one.
Another is the brain drain that can occur as a result of skilled
emigration. Managing migration – for example, by promoting
circular migration - is therefore essential. In particular, we need
to work toward a better regulated international labour market.
Failure to do so will not only adversely affect global economic
growth. It will also fuel irregular migration. And irregular
migration opens the door for human trafficking - an abuse of human
rights, especially women’s rights, which at its root is a by
product of underdevelopment, while a regulated market would
substantially strengthen migrants’ rights, dignity, working
and living conditions.

Two specific topics of global interest need to
be discussed thoroughly and studied further: temporary migration in
all its forms and the possibility of using remittances as
collateral for social and community infrastructure programmes in
countries of origin. IOM is working with international partners to
develop an initiative that will have a major impact on your
societies’ capacity to take advantage of the global labour
market.

Whether desirable or not, migration is largely
unavoidable and it cannot be ignored. While there are nuances in
the tone of the debate and the policy framework in different
countries, the emphasis everywhere has been on reducing the flow.
This has led to tougher criteria to enter legally, made it more
difficult to enforce migration laws and, since the economic
incentive to migrate remains large, accentuated the problem of
illegal migration. Combating the problem itself is not easy either.
There is no such thing as an illegal migrant tight border. Part of
the solution, however, may lie with other policies. In particular,
development policies which grant poor countries better market
access for their products, the transfer of expertise and
technological know-how, and in some cases debt relief.

There is a need for enhanced governance - at
the national level and regionally. We need to build capacity in
order to improve coherent migration policies. Cooperation in this
area is the key - co-operation between states, but also with
non-state actors, such as representatives of the civil society and
the private sector.

We also need to cooperate more and better at
the global level. The High Level Dialogue will take the
multilateral debate on migration and development – issues
like those I have just sketched out only very briefly - to a new
level. This will be a unique opportunity to move from words to
action. In that respect, the very format – combining plenary
sessions with less formal, theme-based round tables, all at the
ministerial level - holds promise that greater shared understanding
can be reached and ways found to move forward in addressing the
challenges of today’s new global migration scenario. The
potential of the High Level Dialogue will be the focus of this
final segment of my remarks this morning.

There are many ways of looking at this
first-ever ministerial-level discussion of migration in the United
Nations General Assembly. IOM sees it as part of an evolving
process of multilateral consultation on one of our era’s most
burning issues, alongside the regional discussions I mentioned
earlier and IOM’s own International Dialogue on Migration.
All have their complementary roles in furthering mutual
understanding and advancing along a road of shared commitment to
increasing the positive impact of international migration for
countries of origin and destination as well as for migrants
themselves. At the same time, it must be recognized that the High
Level Dialogue is unique, for the reasons I’ve already
pointed out. It is therefore an opportunity not to be missed.
Consequently, IOM would argue that the HLD should focus on a
manageable number of essential questions on which consensus and
tangible advances might be possible. We would suggest that there
are seven key messages which fit those criteria, and which the High
Level Dialogue should make its own. In the interest of time, I will
go through them only as seven "headlines", so to speak, but I have
distributed a sheet to all of you which summarizes the rationale
behind our ideas and what, concretely, they could produce.

Our seven key messages would be:

First, migration needs to be better integrated
into development policy and planning. Migration impact analyses
should figure in development project planning. At the national
level, the High Level Dialogue should call for migration to be
incorporated in national development strategies and, whenever
relevant, in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs).

Second, countries need migration policies and
the internal capacity to develop them. It is striking how many
countries do not have comprehensive migration policies, and not
only in the developing world. The High Level Dialogue should result
in clear recognition of the cross cutting nature of migration and
should recommend creation of inter-ministerial working groups as a
"good practice".

Third, the business community needs to be
drawn into the migration debate. The business community plays a
critical role in the economics of migration. Yet it has usually
been absent from the table, especially at the international level.
The High Level Dialogue should explicitly recommend real
partnership between governments, intergovernmental organizations,
the private business sector and civil society.

Fourth, better mechanisms are needed to match
supply and demand for labor globally. The labor market is
increasingly global. Mechanisms to measure and match supply and
demand, to provide frameworks for humane, safe, legal and orderly
flows to meet the needs, and to maximize the development potential
of migration, have not kept pace. The High Level Dialogue should
tackle this crucial aspect I already referred to earlier on.

Fifth, the development potential of diasporas
needs to be explored and enhanced. There is growing focus on
diasporas as motors of development – and not only through
their remittances. The High Level Dialogue must continue to call
for the cost of remittances to be reduced. But it should go beyond
that to encourage better understanding of the relationship between
diasporas and home countries, and what motivates diasporas to
invest time, energy or money back home.

Sixth, regional consultations are a key tool
for international understanding and action. The Asia-Pacific and
the Latin American regions have been leaders in this field. More
could be done globally to achieve cross-fertilization between them
globally, and to benefit from good practice and lessons learned.
Your new “group”, which has a trans-regional dimension,
could play a crucial role in this process.

Seventh - last but certainly not least -
better understanding of migration law will benefit States and
migrants alike. Improving knowledge and understanding about the
human rights of migrants will result in better treatment of
migrants. IOM has taken on the task of compiling and disseminating
information about the vast body of existing international migration
law and has begun focused training sessions. More efforts like this
are needed.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In closing my remarks, let me be very frank
with you. It is important that the High Level Dialogue focus on
substance rather than on process, on action instead of bureaucracy.
All of us who believe that migration and migrants deserve serious
substantive attention at this critical juncture in the
international community’s consideration of the matter need to
constantly remind ourselves of this. Of course, we are all
perfectly aware that there can be improvements in arrangements for
better coordinating the roles and responsibilities of the many
international actors engaged in migration related activities. But
that should not become a distraction from the substantive
challenges that need to be tackled now.

In this connection, a few words may be in
order. Many of you are already aware that UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan has recently endorsed the creation of the Global Migration
Group, comprising the ten main international agencies with a direct
interest in migration issues. The GMG, as it is known, is itself an
expanded and strengthened successor of the Geneva Migration Group
which six of us came together and established some two years ago on
our own initiative. I think it would be fair to leave some time to
the GMG to prove its effectiveness in addressing the task of
providing coherence to the organizational response to migration
requirements. The GMG will be accountable to States, both
collectively and through the governing bodies of its member
agencies, and you will have the opportunity to evaluate our
efficacy, transparency and effectiveness.

To achieve this, I am convinced that there is
no need to create new bureaucratic structures, but simply to make
best use of those already existing, without investing additional
resources.

Furthermore; IOM will propose to the HLD the
creation of the "Migration and Development Initiative
(“IMDI”) with the objective of maximizing the societal
and human development potential of global labour mobility. It aims
to contribute to the international community’s efforts to
find appropriate ways and means to maximize the development
benefits of international migration and minimize its negative
impacts. IOM puts forward this proposal as a contribution to the
debate in preparation for the High Level Dialogue in New York in
mid September and I hope it will be endorsed by the countries.

I can assure you that IOM is committed to
working with the UN and other relevant organizations in a spirit of
full and transparent cooperation, for the benefit of all parties
concerned, and first and foremost - as we have been doing for more
than fifty years - in the interest and on behalf of migrants
themselves.

Let us together make sure that this event will
be a step forward in the process towards a global response to
migration.

Thank you for your attention.