Mr. Chairman,

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is now more widely acknowledged that international migration
may constitute a means of promoting development in both areas of
origin and areas of destination based on the complementarities
between them. Contrary to popular perception that migration is
mostly a south-north phenomenon, south-south migration is equally
compelling. Out of the world’s nearly 200 million migrants
the proportion of those who have moved from one developing country
to another equals those who have gone from the developing to the
developed world. In other words, those moving "South to South" are
about as numerous as those moving "South to North" (A/60/871). In
the same vein, estimates of south-south remittances reach up to 30
per cent of developing countries’ remittances receipts in
2005. These are trends rarely acknowledged and yet of enormous
significance if the impact and consequences of these
population-flows within the "south" are to be considered in the
context of their development potential. As a result, the promotion
of development-friendly migration policies are a concern not
limited to south-north flows but are of significant relevance in
south-south relations as well.

The conscious effort of the international community to place the
migration-development nexus high on the international agenda should
not remain confined to traditional development cooperation, but can
usefully complement and should be mainstreamed throughout
multilateral south-south cooperation practices. Indeed
international migrants represent a dynamic link between cultures,
economies and societies participating in international financial
and knowledge networks and facilitating reverse transfer of
technologies and resources. It is for these reasons that an
increasing number of developing countries has focused on
coordinated policy developments and sharing practices with other
countries of origin to build bridges between national development
needs and the human and economic capital represented by their
diasporas. This is just one example of the promotion of south-south
capacity building in the area of migration.

The reports prepared by the Special Unit for South-South
Cooperation rightly point to the significant expansion of the
agenda for south-south cooperation to new sectors as new challenges
and opportunities have emerged, and where a south-south approach
can help deal with transnational development challenges, one such
emerging area is international migration. In this regard, I would
like to thank the Special Unit for its continuous support and
cooperation, for example in organizing the Ministerial Conference
of the Least Developed Countries on Enhancing the Development
Impact of Remittances in Benin last year.

Mr. Chairman, as a specialized intergovernmental body working
exclusively in the field of migration, the International
Organization for Migration (IOM) has been advocating the need for
better cooperation in migration management. IOM is closely working
with UN agencies, funds and programs and with its member-states and
other partners to forge common solutions and I would like to
highlight one area of IOM’s work particularly relevant to our
deliberations here today.

I would like to underscore the ongoing priority IOM attaches to
providing support to and encouragement for regional consultations
on migration. Regional consultative processes on migration (RCPs)
are widely recognized as being instrumental for their member-states
in fostering dialogue and undertaking activities to benefit from
the development opportunities of migration and address shared
migration challenges. Having a regional dimension to migration
policies and management has also been useful in providing effective
capacity-building programmes and harmonization of joint policies
due to such shared regional concerns. These processes are now a
firmly established feature of the international migration scene, a
multiplicity of consultative circles, both large and small, with
broad or sectoral agendas, in accordance with regional integration
priorities. From the Puebla Process in the Americas, to the
Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa, and the Colombo Group of
Asian labour-sending countries, governments are increasingly coming
together to share their migration interests and experiences and to
search for common approaches to address them. Today, some 142
States around the globe participate in various RCPs on migration,
often with substantive and logistical support from IOM.

Mr. Chairman, as stressed by the President of the General
Assembly in her opening remarks, it is imperative that we
consolidate the south-south platform by reducing gaps and
challenges that exist. International migration is a domain that
needs to be harnessed in order to benefit from its potentials, both
unrealized and untapped. In this regard, south-south cooperation
remains crucial to sustaining a win-win solution to migration
management. This implies in turn the need for significant capacity
building at national and regional levels, regular and ongoing
exchange of information, stronger mechanisms to protect migrant
workers' rights, and consciousness-raising regarding the positive
impact that migration can have.

Mr. Chairman, IOM is fully cognizant that south-south
cooperation is an instrument for optimizing the potential to
promote development through mobilization and sharing of existing
resources and expertise. South-south cooperation is not an option
but an imperative to complement north-south cooperation and should
be built as an integral part of the international community’s
support towards internationally agreed development goals. IOM
remains committed to support the efforts towards better south-south
cooperation through the various RCPs, through our activities both
substantive and operational, and through advocacy for the issues
being discussed here today.

On behalf of IOM, I thank you Mr. Chairman for the opportunity
to participate in today’s debate.