A diverse audience of 100 participants took part in the high-level thematic meeting of the Rabat Process on “State Cooperation as Key to Success in Labour Migration”, held on 29 and 30 September 2022 in Malaga, Spain.
African and European experiences with labour migration
African and European participants from 32 countries, as well as representatives of international organisations and the private sector exchanged their experiences and perspectives on labour migration and discussed how labour migration could be promoted by following a multi-stakeholder approach. They identified challenges, priorities and opportunities and analysed good practices. Labour migration was also highlighted as an important counterweight against irregular migration and the challenges linked with the ageing of European societies.
The meeting was co-chaired by Spain and Nigeria and started with a high-level opening ceremony including speeches by Isabel Castro, Secretary of State for Migration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Spain, Sadiya Umar Farouq, Minister for Humanitarian Affairs of Nigeria, Johannes Luchner, Deputy Director General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) of the European Commission and Monica Zanette, Senior Coordinator of ICMPD's Support Project to the EU-Africa Dialogue on Migration and Mobility (MMD).
The thematic meeting built on previous work on labour migration within the framework of the Rabat Process, such as the virtual Thematic Meeting on Labour Migration that took place in December 2021, and echoed the priorities of the Marrakesh Action Plan, and particularly its Domain 2 which focuses on legal migration.
Labour migration: a topic of increasing interest
European and African partner countries shared details about their labour migration policies and presented inspiring initiatives that promote labour mobility. The outcome document features details of these good practices that include longstanding, successful projects such as the GECCO programme (Spain), as well as more recent initiatives such as skills mobility partnerships.
Throughout the meeting, participants expressed a number of recommendations, such as the need to take into account all stages of circular migration, and the usefulness of an inclusive and multi-stakeholder approach. The importance of labour migration as a tool in the fight against irregular migration was also emphasised.
Given the importance of the topic, the participants expressed their wish to further pursue their exchanges on labour migration in the framework of the Rabat Process, in order to promote regular labour migration channels between origin and host countries.
Outcome document
Outcome document: Thematic meeting on "State Cooperation as Key to Success in Labour Migration"
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