June 2008 – On June 16-17, a conference is organized by the European Commission and the World Bank in Rabat on "Challenges and opportunities of labor migration in Middle East and North Africa region".
The objective of the conference is to engage in a dialogue experts and key stakeholders in both migration sending and receiving countries on the challenges and opportunities of migration in the global job market.
Discussions will focus on policies that would maximize benefits and the positive impact of migration, as well as analyze consequences that the Middle-East and North Africa region (MENA) will face in long-term.
Both sending and receiving countries need to adopt a proactive stand to meet migration challenges
High levels of irregular migration, problems of integration and the issue of “brain drain” hide quite often migrants’ contributions to economic growth, globalization and cultural diversity.
Most of the time, the focus is mainly on high skill migration, integration policies, and security concerns.
"Preparing for the future", one of the conference theme, will require wide-ranging changes in education, social protection, labor markets, and migration policies in both sending and receiving countries, as well as significant efforts to integrate these issues in international cooperation.
