The first meeting at the national level to discuss links between
migration and development is being held today in the west central
city of Pereira, the area with the highest rate of migration of
Colombians abroad.

Participants will reach agreements on devising policies that
promote the benefits of migration for creating development
programmes for the region.

The National Encounter will focus on education and migration,
labour migration, communication and transnational networks,
migration and family, and access to health.

According to the last Colombian census, of the 3,331,107
Colombians living abroad, 49.4 per cent hail from Valle del Cauca,
Quindío, Risaralda, Caldas and Antioquia.

Remittances from Colombians living abroad continue to increase
and are improving the lives of families and regions.
 According to the Bank of the Republic, between January and
October 2006, remittances from Colombians abroad totalled USD 2.8
billion, an increase of USD 464 million for the same period in
2005.

A dramatic increase in real estate investment is proving to be a
major force driving the migration development nexus.  

Diego Bertrand, IOM Chief of Mission in Colombia said: "The
Colombian government and the private sector are well aware and are
very engaged in finding new strategies to promote investments by
Colombians living abroad in their areas of origin."

IOM is hosting the event in coordination with the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the provincial governments of seven departments,
the National Network of Public Universities in the participating
departments, the Spanish-American Solidarity and Cooperation
Association (AESCO), and the Esperanza Foundation.

For more information, please contact:

Rocio Sanz

IOM Colombia

Tel: 57.311 5619495 or 57.1.594 64 10 ext. 142

E-mail: "mailto:rsanz@oim.org.co">rsanz@oim.org.co