IOM and the League of Arab States (LAS), in coordination with the
Egyptian Ministry of Manpower and Emigration and  the UN
Population Fund (UNFPA), will host a three-day meeting on migration
and development in the Arab region starting Monday in Cairo.

Egyptian Minister of Manpower and Emigration Aisha Abdel Hady
will open the seminar, which aims to prepare the 22 LAS member
states for the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) to
be held in Athens, Greece in November 2009.

The central theme of the Athens GFMD will be ‘Integrating
Migration Policies into Development Strategies for the Benefit of
All.'

In Cairo, LAS governments will discuss integrating human
mobility issues into development policies in the Arab region and
Arab participation in the GFMD. They will also share national and
regional experiences of how migration policies can be incorporated
into development strategies and discuss the impact of the global
economic crisis.

The meeting, which follows a similar GFMD preparatory event
supported by IOM in 2008, aims to develop a united Arab declaration
on migration and development to be submitted in Athens.

For further information please contact:

Ginette Kidd

IOM Cairo

Tel: +20.2.27360848/2735 0879

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