EU, IOM Senior Officials in Brussels for Tenth Strategic Cooperation Meeting on Migration and Displacement

Brussels – Senior Officials from the European Union (EU) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) met in Brussels today (2/02) for the tenth annual meeting under the EU-IOM strategic cooperation framework to discuss continuing cooperation on pressing EU and global migration and displacement issues.

The EU highlighted the key role IOM has as a humanitarian and implementing partner of EU migration policy, supporting the EU in its comprehensive approach to migration and displacement issues, and delivering in various policy and operational areas, from emergency assistance, humanitarian aid and protection, to border management, fight against smuggling as well as in the field of return and reintegration. The EU currently has over 80 short and longer-term projects implemented through IOM across all countries and regions, for an overall amount of over EUR 1 billion. Together with its Member States, the EU represents IOM’s biggest donor.

In this context, Gert Jan Koopman, Director General for European Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, emphasised the need to work with a comprehensive, holistic approach founded on mutually beneficial objectives and clear deliverables. “Our efforts across various aspects of migration are closely aligned with our endeavours in additional policy domains such as trade and investment and the rule of law. The International Organization for Migration is an important partner in our endeavours and for the implementation of sustainable solutions for the forthcoming challenges.”, said DG Koopman.

IOM Director-General Amy Pope welcomed the long-standing dialogue between the EU and IOM as an example of multilateral cooperation that is needed now more than ever amid a year headlined by the ongoing war in Ukraine, de-stabilising events in Africa and the Middle East, the pervasive effects of climate change, and the advancement of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. In this context, she emphasised the importance of approaching migration as a means to unlock human potential through partnerships and initiatives that enrich our societies.

“We often say there are no quick, easy solutions to managing migration better, but nothing moves forward without cooperation,” said IOM Director-General Pope. “In partnership with the EU, we are committed to working comprehensively and globally to leverage the opportunities and promise of safe, orderly migration at a time when the world needs it most.”

Discussions at today’s EU-IOM Senior Officials Meeting focused on recent events impacting stability and mobility in the EU’s neighbourhood and globally, key migration and displacement policy developments, legal migration pathways, return, reintegration and migrant protection, and the challenges for migration and displacement, particularly in Africa.  

The EU-IOM meeting was hosted by the Directorate-General for European Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) on behalf of the EU. Joining IOM Director-General Amy Pope and senior IOM officials were senior representatives from the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO), the European External Action Service (EEAS), the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME), and the Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA).   

Background

In July 2012, the EU and IOM established a Strategic Cooperation Framework to enhance collaboration on migration, development, humanitarian response and human rights issues. This is built on both partners’ shared interest in bringing the benefits of well-managed international migration to migrants and society. Today’s meeting, the tenth of its kind since the launch of the Strategic Cooperation, was one of the high-level discussions that advance cooperation between the two organisations on these issues. The first EU-IOM Senior Officials Meeting under the Strategic Cooperation Framework was held in Brussels on 03 May 2013.