I am pleased to convene this event in cooperation with the Center
for Migration Studies and thank them for their kind generosity in
the organization of this Conference. I am grateful for the
participation of the Deputy Secretary-General who I know has more
than a passing interest in the subject of international migration
and development.

This event is timely given ongoing international debate on this
topic – beginning with the 2006 UN High-Level Dialogue on
International Migration and Development (HLD), which was a
watershed event in building international consensus on the links
between migration and development. The political will generated at
the HLD resulted in the creation of a states-led initiative, the
Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), the first of
meeting of which was hosted by Belgium last July. The success of
Brussels will be followed by a second GFMD meeting, to be hosted by
the Philippines this October, and the recently announced third GFMD
to be hosted by Greece in 2009. IOM fully endorses the themes that
the Government of the Philippines has selected to guide the Manila
debate, and the emphasis placed on the welfare and well-being of
migrants. 

The priority now is to develop mechanisms to actually build
synergies between migration policies and national development
planning processes, and to ensure better utilization of the
resources of the many stakeholders with interest in migration,
including the development cooperation community.

After the HLD, IOM called for "stepped up measures to make
migration work for development", believing that among the many
different innovative ways to do so, two were most prominent: first,
mainstreaming migration into development planning agendas and
second, building capacities to deal more effectively with the
global labour market.

This approach has found an important platform in the GFMD which
has identified several action outcomes for follow-up. Some of these
relate to targeted needs for further research and analysis. Other
action points relate to the development of practical,
evidence-based migration initiatives holding promise to enhance the
beneficial links between migration and development. The GFMD
– and related activities such as the "marketplace" –
have provided a new impetus for bilateral and multilateral
cooperation, facilitating the continuing evolution of the migration
and development discourse, and the practical development of new
ideas and concepts.

To give a more concrete example of follow-up activities, IOM is
developing jointly with the WB, UNDP and UNICEF a Migration and
Development Handbook, the principal objective of which is to assist
States, particularly developing ones, in their efforts to develop
new policy approaches and solutions for better management of
migration for development.

In addition, IOM hopes to organize a two-day consultation among
the secretariats and chairing governments of major Regional
Consultative Processes on migration (RCPs). This initiative would
serve as a follow-up to the first GFMD as a means to: 1) share best
practices on migration and development, capacity building and
policy coherence; 2) establish an informal network of migration and
development focal points in RCPs; and 3) facilitate a two-way
information flow between RCPs and the GFMD. As parallel processes
which are independent of but complementary to the GFMD, RCPs could
provide a testing and dissemination ground for new ideas introduced
in the GFMD. Overall, the proposed consultation is expected to
further facilitate and deepen cross-fertilization among RCPs.

On the subject of RCPs and their focus on migration and
development-related issues, I would like to draw your attention to
next week’s Ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi, marking an
historic development in cooperation between countries of origin and
destination for contractual labour in Asia. For the first time, the
eleven Asian labour origin countries of the Colombo Process –
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan,
the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam – are
joining with the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, plus Yemen,
and a number of other destination countries in Asia to forge a
partnership for development around the subject of contractual
labour mobility in Asia. The meeting is evidence of the critical
role that overseas workers and labour mobility play in the
development of both countries of origin and destination in Asia and
globally. It is equally testimony to the importance of respect for
the rights and well-being of overseas workers and their families.
Underlying all is the recognition that inter-state dialogue and
cooperation are essential to realizing both the development
potential and welfare goals of all the States who will gather
together in Abu Dhabi.

In addition to States, many other actors are also actively
working towards more coherent, cooperative approaches to migration
and development issues. Among these is the Global Migration Group
(GMG), which is in the process of expanding its inter-agency
membership to 14 members. The GMG hopes to further improve the
coordination of international migration activities within the
United Nations system and with IOM in order to improve the overall
effectiveness of our response to the opportunities and challenges
posed by international migration.

Members of GMG contributed in various ways to the first meeting
of the Global Forum on Migration and Development. We provided
technical support, seconded staff, collaborated in the organization
of roundtable sessions and assisted in preparing background papers.
GMG members also responded to requests for technical assistance by
states at the "marketplace."

Currently, GMG members are implementing, within their respective
mandates, some of the outcomes from the Brussels Forum. In
addition, in order to assist Governments in implementing those
outcomes they consider beneficial, the GMG presented a proposal
entitled an International Partnership on Migration and Development
(IPMD) to the Forum’s Steering Group. This proposal responds
to the need for an operational-level mechanism to facilitate the
follow-up of action items and more generally to further contribute
to policy coherence and capacity building. The heads of agencies of
the GMG have endorsed this proposal, and it is contemplated that
several would be involved individually and working together, in
partnership with interested stakeholders. The proposal will be
adjusted following the reaction of the Steering Group to ensure
that whatever is proposed meets the needs of governments and is
coherent with the Forum process.

Let me take this opportunity to say that it would be helpful if
UN member states continue to acknowledge the work of the GMG and
encourage its further strengthening. IOM remains convinced that
this coordination mechanism among key intergovernmental bodies can
play a crucial role in enhancing policy coherence and optimizing
programming complementarities to support the beneficial aspects of
migration.

There are of course other interesting opportunities for
inter-agency work, such as the Spanish-supported Millennium
Development Goals Achievement Fund (MDG-F), particularly its call
for proposals on "youth, employment and migration" which has
offered an important chance for many agencies to work together on
migration and development programming in a coherent and integrated
inter-agency manner. It would be important to build on this level
of field coordination even after this specific experience.

Another important political initiative discussed these past days
in Madrid is the Alliance of Civilization (AoC), which highlights
the relevance of "education, youth, migration and the media" as key
and interconnected means for facilitating integration, reducing
tensions, and promoting tolerance and dialogue among cultures,
communities and individuals. This echoes many of the issues that
were singled out among the "cross-cutting" themes in Brussels.

Migration and development-related initiatives are also being
taken by important non-state actors. While the management of
cross-border population flows is an intrinsic feature of state
sovereignty, it is undeniable that many aspects of migration are
also of concern to stakeholders in addition to governments. For
example, both in home and host countries, the business community
plays a critical yet under-recognized role in the economics of
labour migration, perhaps the critical role. In my view, the
private sector is a key stakeholder in human mobility issues and in
the relationship between migration and development.

To ensure that IOM hears the voice of the private sector, I
established a Business Advisory Board (BAB) in 2005. The BAB is
currently exploring an interesting new initiative, a Labour
Migration Policy Index, which would aim to evaluate national labour
migration programmes, assessing the extent to which both the needs
of business and migrant workers are met. This initiative not only
reflects the interest of the private section in labour mobility
issues, but also its interest in the well-being of migrants. I look
forward to seeing the BAB develop this initiative further over the
course of 2008.

So, too, civil society actors with an interest and expertise in
this field contribute crucially, both in terms of ideas and
actions. From researchers and analysts, to advocacy groups, to
diaspora associations, to service providers and more, civil society
is a critical stakeholder on the ground and in stimulating our
thinking.

Developments such as the GFMD and others which I have mentioned
here today can bring fresh ideas into the more formal
intergovernmental process, including into UN General Assembly
biennial deliberations of the Second Committee of the General
Assembly. We certainly look forward to the debate this fall, and
offer support to governments where needed.

Partly because of its timeliness, this Conference offers an
opportunity to see how the debate on migration and development can
be enriched. We have clearly seen through these various initiatives
that the topic is of great significance for all countries, and this
event can provide a thoughtful discussion on continuing this
debate.

We hope that the interaction over the next two days will explore
substantive matters from further follow-up activities of the
international community, to national capacity building efforts,
bilateral arrangements, and efforts of sub-regional and regional
agreements and processes to become more proactively engaged on the
development dimension of migration.

Capacity building, training, research and stock-taking at
various levels to empower governments to best harness the
development potential of migration remain key, and certainly many
of you here today have much to contribute in these areas.

Finally, we wish to thank all of you for your interest and
participation in this Conference, and we look forward to engaging
with you both here and in the future.