Luanda – The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) signed today a cooperation agreement on enhanced and more strategic cooperation on migration in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. 

“This renewed partnership will encourage a broader participation of all relevant state and non-state actors to design and implement evidence-based and gender-responsive policies and migration frameworks to empower migrants and achieve inclusive, sustainable socio-economic development,” IOM Director General António Vitorino said after signing the agreement at the 10th Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the OACPS in the Angolan capital. 

The agreement marks a new page in the long-standing OACPS-IOM partnership, expanding cooperation to all areas of migration governance. This includes regional integration, migration and development, migrants’ rights, labour migration, migration data, migrant health, climate change, gender and youth aspects of migration, countering discrimination, xenophobia, human trafficking, and migrant smuggling.   

IOM’s role in supporting policy dialogue on migration in particular within the OACPS – EU Dialogue on Migration and Development is reinforced as an observer organization and co-secretariat of this Dialogue.   

This new partnership will allow OACPS and IOM to jointly promote convergent approaches to migration governance and well-managed migration policies across the continents and regions.   

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For more information, please contact Kristina Galstyan at IOM Geneva, Email: kgalstyan@iom.int