- Senior Officials from the European Union (EU) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) met in Brussels today (07/10) to discuss continuing cooperation on pressing EU and global migration issues as part of the EU-IOM strategic cooperation framework, now in its ninth year.
Amid a year headlined by the war in Ukraine, the pervasive effects of climate change and a deepening energy-food-cost of living crisis, IOM Director-General António Vitorino stressed the importance of multilateral cooperation in addressing the mobility dimension of these issues to the highest standard.
"The challenges and opportunities of international migration are a given and must unite rather than divide," said IOM Director-General Vitorino. "We join the EU with conviction that only through international cooperation and partnerships can we hope to respond to mounting humanitarian needs and advance the goal of safe, orderly, regular and dignified migration grounded in human rights."
Discussions at the EU-IOM Senior Officials Meeting focused on key issues including EU migration policy developments, the war in Ukraine and the response in neighbouring countries, the effects of climate change on human mobility, and IOM-EU partnership and outlook for cooperation in the field, also in the context of the Team Europe Approaches.
The EU-IOM meeting was hosted by the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) on behalf of the EU. Joining IOM Director-General António Vitorino and senior IOM officials were senior representatives from the European External Action Service (EEAS), the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME), the Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA), and the Directorate-General for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR).
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 built on both partners' shared interest in bringing the benefits of well-managed international migration to migrants and society. Today's meeting, the eighth of its kind since the launch of the EU-IOM Strategic Cooperation Framework, was one of the high-level discussions that advance cooperation between the two organisations on these issues.
Together, the EU and its Member States are the largest contributors to IOM's budget. Between 2015 and 2021, the European Commission and IOM worked together worldwide on nearly 700 projects with an approximate value of EUR 2.9 billion.
****
