IOM Director General Brunson McKinley and Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) Executive Secretary Sergei Lebedev will
today sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) pledging closer
cooperation between the two organizations.

The signing in Minsk, Belarus, is expected to be attended by the
Permanent Representatives of CIS Member States including Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, and will be
followed by a press conference.

The agreement between IOM and the CIS marks a growing
recognition of the need to address migration management in the CIS
participating states, particularly with a view to countering
irregular migration and trafficking in human beings.

The Russian Federation, which is the main country of destination
in the CIS, now hosts an estimated 12 million migrants, followed by
Ukraine with 6.8 million and Kazakhstan with 2.5 million. Belarus,
which hosts the CIS Secretariat, is home to an estimated 1.2
million migrants.

"This agreement recognizes the growing importance of regional
cooperation in managing migration and will reinforce the excellent
working relationship that IOM already has with individual CIS
states. We believe that it will open the door to a range of new
joint programmes and activities within the CIS framework," said
Director General McKinley.

The MoU calls for regular information exchange and technical
cooperation, including joint workshops to address areas including
irregular migration, trafficking in human beings, cross-border
cooperation and improved travel documentation, including the use of
biometrics, as well as other migration management issues.

For more information please contact:

Galina Desyatova

IOM Minsk

Tel. +375.172882742

E-mail: "mailto:gdesyatova@iom.org.by">gdesyatova@iom.org.by