Annan offers global forum on migration & development
07 Jun '06
4 min read
Kofi Annan
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed a standing forum led by all 191 Member States which governments could use to share ideas and discuss best practices and policies related to international migration and how this phenomenon ties in with global development.
Presenting a wide-ranging 90-page report entitled “International migration and development” to the General Assembly, Mr. Annan described the exhaustive study as “an early road map for this new era of mobility,” and said that “the advantages that migration brings are not as well understood as they should be.”
At the same time, Mr. Annan stressed that his proposal for a government-led consultative forum on migration and development would not produce negotiated outcomes or recommendations, but rather would make new policy ideas more widely known, add value to existing regional consultations, and encourage an integrated approach to migration and development at both the national and international levels.
Migrants not only take on necessary jobs seen as less desirable by the established residents of host countries, the report finds, but also stimulate demand and improve economic performance overall. They also help to shore up pension systems in countries with ageing populations.
For their part, developing countries benefit from an estimated $167 billion a year sent home by migrant workers. The exodus of talent from poor countries to more prosperous often poses a severe development loss. But in many countries this is at least partially compensated by migrants' later return to, and/or investment in, their home countries, where profitable new businesses are established.
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