Managing International Migration is important for Socio-Economic Development, Conference emphasised
Published Date: Thursday, Oct 17, 2013
The inaugural session of the two days International Conference on “India – EU Migration and Mobility: Prospects and Challenges” at New Delhi on 17th October 2013 has brought together migration scholars from European Union (EU), India and scholars working in multilateral institutions such as ILO, Migration Policy Centre (MPC) etc. to share new ideas on International migration especially in the Indian EU context. Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Shri Vayalar Ravi in his inaugural address emphasized the role of India in the global economy in the coming years, especially in context of high skilled migration to the Europe. He argued that the aging population in many European countries will naturally create a huge demand for skills and countries like India which has the younger population will be able to provide high skilled labour for such demand. He emphasized the commitment of India for development of skills and human resource to meet the challenges. He also highlighted the need for better research and coordination among stakeholders to create better migration management. In the key note address, Joao Cravinho, Ambassador, Head of Delegation of the European Union to India said there are more than 232 million international migrants today and Europe is one of most favoured destination. The new economic opportunity has created driving force for the high skilled labour from developing countries to the developed. He mentioned that “In Europe we have aging and declining population”, that’s why labour mobility is very important for Europe. He emphasized that ‘facilities are to be made at both origin and destination countries”. He said that safety migration is very important for social and economic development of any countries. He lamented that the migration is very vulnerable due to fragmentation in policy, adhoc approach. He said that EU as a whole is taking lead and there is a need for working together to achieve success. He said that EU is developing a broad range of policies and harmonization of policies both internally and externally to address the migration issues. More than 10 million of Refugees were supported by EU in 2012. EU has been world’s leading donor when it comes to migration and development, he said. India became the strategic partner of the EU and there is need for undertaking more joint studies to address the migration issues. Prof. Philippe Fargues, Director, Migration Policy Centre (MPC), EUI, Florance advocated for the better migration management through multi-disciplinary study groups, providing the Government in EU and India reliable migration information by connecting migration experts and policy makers, creating public awareness and developing migration database.