UNITED NATIONS, October 3 (Itar-Tass) - A two-day High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, which will be attended by delegations from more than 150 UN member countries, including head of the Russian Federal Migration Service Konstantin Romodanovsky, is opening at the UN headquarters on Thursday.
The UN Department of Public Information reported on Wednesday that during the meetings on September 3 and 4, the forum participants would consider actions to use international migration for the benefit of global development, as well as to reduce the negative effects of this process on the socio- economic sphere. The meeting is expected to pay major attention to the role of migration in the global development agenda beyond 2015.
The purpose of the High-level Dialogue is to identify concrete measures to strengthen coherence and cooperation at all levels, with a view to enhancing the benefits of international migration for migrants and countries alike and its important links to development, while reducing its negative implications.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s report, presented for the meeting, determines eight points, which, in his opinion, should be taken into account in terms of the international community’s actions in the sphere of problems of migration of citizens. In particular, the UN Secretary-General proposes to “protect the human rights of migrants by implementing all relevant international instruments” and create “more opportunities for legal migration.” In his report Ban Ki-moon also recommends that the UN member countries take joint action to lower the costs related to migration, such as the transfer costs of remittances and fees paid to recruiters, especially by low-skilled migrant workers.
On the eve of the meeting, UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson called on its participants to “turn migration into a development catalyst.” “I hope that the UN Member States will share their good experiences and launch specific initiatives aimed at addressing migration issues at the bilateral, regional and global level,” he said.
The UN latest report marks an unprecedented level of migration - as of this year, as many as 232 million people, or 3.2 percent of the planet’s population, live outside of their homeland. According to experts of the world organisation, more than half of migrants live in the world’s 10 most developed countries. The United States is first in this regard (45.8 million), Russia is second (11 million), ahead of Germany (9.8 million).
At the same time, Russia in 2013 has become one of the most popular destinations of migration. The routes Russia-Ukraine (3.5 million), Ukraine-Russia (2.9 million), as well as Kazakhstan-Russia (2.5 million) and back (2.4 million) are on the “top ten” of migration routes.
On the eve of the high-level meetings at the UN headquarters, head of the Russian delegation Konstantin Romodanovsky said in an interview with Itar-Tass that Russia has “made ··great strides” towards taking migration flows under control. “Many countries are lagging behind us. This is why Russia is an important player at the High-level Dialogue and other international forums,” he said.
The head of the Russian Federal Migration Service on Thursday will speak at a plenary meeting on migration, and on Friday will co-chair the fourth roundtable discussion on the issue “International labour migration and its impact on development.”