On 16th and 17th December 2021, Portugal will host a virtual Rabat Process meeting on legal migration, with a specific focus on labour migration. The meeting,originally planned to take place in Lisbon, is co-chaired by Portugal and Cabo Verde, reference countries for legal migration and mobility, which is domain 2 of the Marrakesh Action Plan. Due to the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference will take place virtually.

The impact of COVID-19 on labour migration schemes will also be addressed during the meeting. Indeed, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the need for migrant workers in key economic sectors and that, in addition to highly skilled workers, low-and medium-skilled people are also in high demand. This meeting will be an opportunity to analyse how to promote mobility and legal migration schemes in a post COVID-19 era. It will also be the first Rabat Process meeting ever to specifically focus on labour migration.

Identifying challenges and analysing solutions to shape future policies

Participants will analyse the main challenges and corresponding solutions in the field of legal migration. The meeting will be the occasion to share information and practices on Euro-African projects on legal migration, strengthen dialogue in the field of legal migration and mobility, and share information on funding mechanisms and models for legal migration projects.

Day 1: the Euro-African legal migration context and good practices

The programme of the first day aims to give an overview of the Euro-African context on legal migration by presenting existing global and continental policy frameworks on legal migration and analysing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mobility and legal migration schemes. Thereafter, EU Pilot Projects on Legal Migration launched in 2018 and the innovative “Talent Partnership” initiative will be presented and discussed. Finally, this first day will be an opportunity for partner countries to discuss labour migration policies and models as key tools in strengthening Euro-African relations.

Day 2: roundtables on three complementary approaches to labour migration

The programme of the second day is organised around 3 roundtables, each focusing on a different approach and viewpoint on labour migration:

  • The first roundtable will focus on a multi-stakeholder approach to labour migration and, thus, will bring together all stakeholders in the field of labour migration for dialogue and discussion: private sector, employment agencies, diasporas, etc.
  • The second roundtable will approach the topic by category of workers and will focus particularly on young graduates and talents.
  • The third roundtable will deal with the sectoral approach to legal migration by detailing programmes carried out in different sectors of activity such as ICT, healthcare and construction.

Designated representatives of Rabat Process partner countries and organisations may still register until 15th December 2021:
Register here