Uganda - Canada’s Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Ahmed D Hussen, has hailed IOM as a key partner, and praised the UN Migration Agency’s global work.

Minister Hussen spoke in Kampala on Thursday 2 August, while visiting the Canada Visa Application Centre (CANVAC), which is run by IOM Uganda in partnership with VFS Global.

“As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau always says, we couldn’t have done the Syrian refugee initiative without the assistance of IOM,” Minister Hussen said.

Between November 2015 and February 2016, IOM helped move a total of 40,000 Syrian refugees from the Middle East to Turkey.

Welcoming Minister Hussen to CANVAC, IOM Uganda Chief of Mission, Ali Abdi, thanked Canada for its continued support to IOM.

“IOM is grateful that over the years, Canada has expanded the warrant programme, and given thousands of vulnerable refugees a safe platform on which to make fuller contributions to humanity,” Mr Abdi said.

Also present at CANVAC were H.E. Sara Hradecky, the Canadian High Commissioner resident in Nairobi but responsible for Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Somalia, Ms Erin Brouse, the Counsellor and Migration Program Manager at the Canadian High Commission in Tanzania, as well as senior IOM staff.

IOM Uganda Chief of Mission remarks in full: https://tinyurl.com/yahu54ls

Minister Hussen’s speech transcript:  https://tinyurl.com/yaft5tha