IOM Director General Brunson McKinley is today opening a new office
in the southern French city of Marseille which will help develop
and expand the Organization's activities in France.

The provision of the office to IOM in the Villa Valmer for a
three-year period by the City of Marseille is part of a municipal
initiative to establish a House of International Organizations with
the aim of facilitating innovative collaborations between
organizations based there and local entities in order to contribute
to the development of the Mediterranean region.

Other organizations with offices in Villa Valmer include World
Bank and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization.
The UN's World Food Programme and the NGO Plan Bleu will also be
joining the House.

The inauguration of the office which follows the signing of an
agreement this morning between IOM and Jean-Claude Gaudin, Senator
and Mayor of Marseille and Vice President of the French Senate, is
also being attended by the Director General of the National Agency
for the Reception of Foreigners and Migrants (ANAEM), Prefect Jean
Godfroid, as well as senior officials from the Mediterranean
Institute and EUROMED.

"Marseille is and will remain tied to the Mediterranean. Its
international existence and ambitions are based on its capacity to
be an authentic link between both shores of the Mediterranean
basin," says Mayor Gaudin.

The new premises, which complement existing IOM offices in Paris
and Calais, will be dedicated to carrying out operational
programmes such as information campaigns for migrants in
cooperation with ANAEM and to the creation of migration and
development initiatives, tapping into the development potential of
the many migrant diasporas living in southern France.

"The value of such programmes is set to rise as they address the
fundamental question of how to make migrants feel at home both here
and back home, to fully experience this double attachment without
having to choose between spaces and cultures to which they belong.
Migrants can and do make a valuable contribution to both old and
new countries but with that little extra vision and support, their
potential can be more fully realized," says Director General
McKinley.

For further information, please contact:

Philippe Boncour

IOM Geneva

Tel: + 41 79 635 2347

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