Governments and experts from Asia and European Union (EU) will
today (8 February) meet in Brussels to take part in a two-day
dialogue to explore the future prospects of Asian migrant workers
in Europe.

The "2nd Asia-EU Dialogue on Labour Migration", organized by
IOM, is designed to inform governments in the two regions about
current policies and trends in labour migration to improve mutual
understanding and generate shared strategies for collaboration.

"Migration flows from Asia to the EU are gradually expanding,
despite the global economic downturn. This meeting will play a
particularly important role in promoting more skilled migration
from Asia to Europe," says IOM Regional Representative for South
Asia Rabab Fatima.

The meeting, which will be attended by senior Asian officials,
including officials from the 11 Asian members of the Colombo
Process ( "http://www.colomboprocess.org/" target="_blank" title=
"">http://www.colomboprocess.org/), and EU member states
participating in the process, such as the Czech Republic, Denmark,
Italy and Romania, will focus on the latest policies, legislation,
trends, challenges and best practices in managing Asia-EU labour
migration.

"We hope that participating countries, as they did at the first
Dialogue in 2008, will identify partners with whom they can pursue
cooperation in areas of mutual interest," says IOM Regional
Representative for Western Europe Bernd Hemingway.

The "2nd Asia-EU Dialogue on Labour Migration", which is funded
by the European Commission and EU member states, is expected to
produce joint recommendations that will form the basis for future
regional and bilateral cooperation.

For more information, please contact:

Kristina Mejo

IOM Dhaka

E-mail: "mailto:kmejo@iom.int">kmejo@iom.int

or

Alex Flavell

IOM Brussels

E-mail: "mailto:aflavell@iom.int">aflavell@iom.int