Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,



I have this morning once again the pleasure and honor to address an
important gathering in the Black Sea Region.



The Black Sea Region is the focus of strategic, geopolitical and
security interest. It has been a natural crossroads of goods and
people from the days of the Silk Road to modern oil pipelines.



As some of you may remember, in March 2003, almost exactly three
years ago, the Romanian Government and IOM jointly organized a
conference, here in Bucharest, under the title Irregular Migration
and Security in the Black Sea Region.



Today, I have the pleasure of signing a Memorandum of Understanding
between IOM and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization,
thus laying the groundwork for concrete cooperation between our two
Organizations.



Why is cooperation with BSECO so important for IOM? All around the
world, governments have come together in regional processes to
discuss migration management and take cooperative action. IOM
encourages and supports regional dialogue on migration wherever and
whenever we can.



We participate in the 5+ 5 Ministerial Dialogue in the Western
Mediterranean, in the Puebla Process in Central and North America,
in the Colombo Group of Labour Ministers of South and East Asia, in
the Lima Process in South America and in many, many more regional
consultative processes, sometimes building on existing
institutions, sometimes starting from scratch.



I believe there is an important role for BSECO as a regional
organization in the global migration debate and for migration as a
common-denominator policy issue for all the BSECO states. The
economic and developmental dimension of migration policy is more
prominent every day, standing side by side with the security and
regulatory agenda, itself also growing and taking new forms.



A number of developments in and around the Black Sea have
contributed to the timeliness of developing this regional dialogue.
Allow me to highlight few of these developments:

• The European Union is moving steadily closer to the shores of
  the Black Sea. Once Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey have joined, the
  Black Sea will mark a boundary between east and west in Europe, but
  not a barrier, and an important watershed for migrants seeking work
  in other countries. The European Neighborhood Policy holds promise
  for the BSECO countries in the context of “the wider
  Europe”. 
• The Commonwealth of Independent States for its part is taking a
  new and active interest in migration issues, particularly in the
  areas of capacity building for governments, measures to counter
  trafficking and smuggling of persons and broadly compatible
  biometric identity systems. 
• Western Europe increasingly recognizes the necessity of labor
  migration to fill vacancies in their job market and offset the
  effects of their shrinking, aging populations and labor
  forces. 
• Considerable international attention is focusing on the better
  use of remittance transfers as a development tools, allowing poorer
  nations or parts of nations to profit from the wages of those who
  seek work where it can be found.
•  At the same time -- and this is not news to you,
  ministers and high officials responsible for migration issues --
  irregular migration and trafficking in persons continue
  disturbingly both in this region and elsewhere on the globe, in
  spite of all our efforts.
• In a nutshell, the advantages and problems of globalization
  have come to center on the BSECO region and the attendant need to
  work together on population mobility questions can only grow.

So how can IOM help you to cope with this rapidly expanding
migration workload? IOM has offices in all the BSECO countries, in
most from the early 1990s, when the BSECO was created. Our offices
carry out a number and should spread to all of the region’s
states through regional information sharing and training.

• For example, in the field of assistance to the victims of
  trafficking, an area specifically mentioned in the new Memorandum
  of Understanding, IOM offices carry out a range of advanced
  rehabilitation and job integration programs.
• Bulgaria’s and Romania’s efforts to assist victims
  of trafficking could be a model for similar activities in other
  countries.
• IOM Ankara has developed trafficking statistics and cartography
  models that are just waiting for application at full regional
  level.

The economic agenda of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
Organization inspires further ideas for greater pro-activity in
making migration a component of regional integration and economic
progress.

• Labour migration should be linked to the plans to create a
  Black Sea Free Trade Area. Trans-border cooperation, temporary work
  permits for workers within the region and outside, facilitated
  return, remittance management and micro-credit investment schemes
  for returnees and to dampen migration pressures – all these
  are good options.
• As the European Union pursues its ambitious plans to administer
  and manage legal labor migration, a regional dialogue with the
  European Commission would be most useful in articulating the
  interests of all involved states and creating concrete action.
• IOM has relevant experience in labour migration arrangements
  between states, as between Italy and Albania or Moldova or between
  the Czech Republic and Ukraine and Serbia and Montenegro.

These are options that we need to begin discussing right away, in
capitals and at the BSECO Headquarters.



On the global level as well, migration is one of the main themes of
2006. The United Nations will hold a High Level Dialogue on the
subject in September and governments are preparing to come together
at Ministerial level for an important exchange of views. As the
leading international organization in the migration field, IOM is
deeply engaged. BSECO governments will have much to say at the HLD.




In preparation for the HLD the interested international agencies
have enhanced their cooperation. The Geneva Migration Group will
shortly expand to ten agencies through the addition of the World
Bank and other development-oriented institutions.



Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,



My brief remarks should have given you some sense of the enthusiasm
and gratitude with which I approach the possibility of cooperation
with the BSECO. I sincerely believe that we can accomplish much
together.



In conclusion, let me repeat that through the BSECO and its
Istanbul Headquarters, but also through the capitals of all nations
represented here, IOM will seek to develop better migration
management in the region, help you to face up to the major
challenges of the future and work hard to make the Black Sea a
model of international cooperation in the field of human mobility.




Thank you very much.