The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of
Viet Nam, Nguyen Thanh Son, and IOM Director General William Lacy
Swing signed a new cooperation agreement on Thursday cementing ties
between the Southeast Asian nation and the migration agency.

"The signing of this agreement is a measure of the importance
that Viet Nam places on migration management and its willingness to
cooperate with international partners to address migration issues,"
said Director General Swing, who met with Vietnamese Prime Minister
Nguyen Tan Dung as well as Vice Prime Minister and Minister of
Foreign Affairs Pham Gia Khiem, in Hanoi prior to the signing
ceremony.

"The new agreement puts the close cooperation between Viet Nam
and IOM on a new, stronger basis. It offers new opportunities for
enhanced cooperation to meet Viet Nam's 21st century's migration
challenges," he added.

IOM's experience in Viet Nam dates back to 1987. In 1990,
shortly before the first Gulf war, IOM responded to a request from
the Government to evacuate some 17,000 Vietnamese workers from
Iraq. In the same year, the country applied for IOM Observer status
and in 2007 became an IOM Member State.

IOM's programmes in Viet Nam over the past two decades have
included family reunification and facilitated migration programmes,
as well as close cooperation with the Government to fight human
trafficking.

"Viet Nam is today the world's 13th most populous country and is
experiencing rapid social-economic development that is bringing
with it increased mobility, both inside the country and abroad,"
says IOM Viet Nam Chief of Mission Florian Forster.

"Under the new agreement, IOM will help the country to implement
programmes aimed at safe and orderly migration, while respecting
the rights and legitimate interests of migrants. Our shared
objective is to help Viet Nam to maximize the positive impact of
migration on social development and to boost legal migration
opportunities for Vietnamese nationals," he notes.

The new agreement reflects the multi-dimensional nature of
modern migration. Cooperation will include capacity enhancement in
migration management, migration health, counter-trafficking,
information services, the voluntary return of stranded or irregular
migrants, the promotion of sustainable labour migration, and coping
with migration induced by climate change and disasters.

IOM is an active participant in the One UN Initiative in Viet
Nam, which aims to combine and synthesize the work of the resident
UN organizations within a single planning framework to better
support Viet Nam.

As the leading intergovernmental agency working in the area of
migration, IOM works closely with the Government, notably the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security, the
Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, mass organizations
and civil society partners in Viet Nam.

For more information please contact:

Florian Forster

IOM Hanoi

Mobile: +84 9 03450196

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