The 92nd session of the IOM governing body will open on Tuesday, 28
November 2006 in Conference Room XVII at the Palais des Nations in
Geneva with the admission of two new member states, Nepal and the
Republic of Montenegro.

This will bring the number of IOM Member States to 120. 
The Qatar Charity will also be given observer status.

The theme of the International Dialogue on Migration, which has
been a core feature of IOM Council meetings since 2001, is
“Partnerships in Migration: Engaging Business and Civil
Society”.

The Dialogue will open with a special interactive discussion
with eight members and representatives of the 10 member Global
Migration Group (GMG). The group comprises heads of agencies which
seek to promote a wider application of all relevant international
and regional instruments and norms relating to migration, and to
encourage the adoption of more coherent, comprehensive and better
coordinated approaches to international migration.

In her opening presentation, Michele Klein Solomon, IOM’s
Director of Migration Policy, Research and Communications, will
outline the need to engage all relevant non-governmental
stakeholders in the migration debate to make migration and global
mobility become a "win-win" proposition for all involved.

“The very nature of international migration calls for
comprehensive, coherent and collaborative approaches involving all
stakeholders, including international organizations, civil society
and the private sector in all countries affected by
migration.  Partnerships between governments and business, in
particular can help better identify, plan and match global labour
supply and demand,” she says.

A high-level plenary discussion will then follow, bringing
together Arturo Brion, the Philippine’s Labour Minister;
David Arkless, Manpower’s Senior Vice President and member of
the Director General’s Business Advisory Board; Thomas
McCarthy, president of GhanaCoop and Jerry Oware from GhanAfrica,
two initiatives which support diaspora participation in
development; and Rafael Hurtado, president of the Federacion de
Clubes Zacatecanos del Sur de California, one of the oldest and
strongest Hometown Associations for Mexican immigrants.

During the second day of the Council, high level participants
will discuss the International Migration and Development Initiative
(IMDI) developed by IOM with many of its GMG partners. The
initiative is a broad collaborative effort aiming to tackle
today’s complex multi-directional labour migration flows to
ensure they successfully contribute to the development of home and
host countries.

This will be followed in the afternoon by The Year in Review to
highlight major developments in international migration in 2006,
with a particular focus on migration and development.

The review will be moderated by Jean-Louis De Brouwer, Director
for Immigration, Asylum and Borders at the European
Commission’s Directorate General Justice, Freedom and
Security.

Kevin O’Sullivan from the Irish National Immigration
Service will address Ireland’s comprehensive review of its
migration policy after rapidly changing from being a country of
emigration to a country of immigration. Maria Elisa Berenguer,
Deputy Secretary General of the Ibero-American Secretariat (SEGIB)
will comment on the recently held Ibero-American Summit on
migration. Libya’s Secretary for Expatriates, Immigrants and
Refugees Affairs, Ali S.J. Errishi, will talk on the just-concluded
Africa/Europe Ministerial Conference on Migration and Development
in Tripoli. Finally, Armand De Decker, Belgian Minister of
Development Cooperation will comment on the Migration and
Development conference hosted by Belgium in March as well as his
government’s plans to host the first Global Forum on
Migration and Development, an outcome of the UN High-Level Dialogue
on International Migration and Development in September this
year.

Members of the press are welcome to attend the Council session
and discussions. All Council documents are available on the IOM
Website at "http://www.iom.int" target="_blank" title="">www.iom.int

For further information, please contact:

Jean Philippe Chauzy

Tel:+ 41 79 285 4366

Email: "mailto:pchauzy@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">pchauzy@iom.int

or

Jemini Pandya

Tel: 079 217 3374

E-mail: "mailto:jpandya@iom.int" target="_blank" title=
"">jpandya@iom.int