| OPENING STATEMENT BY SIR JOHN R. KAPUTIN, SECRETARY- GENERAL OF THE ACP GROUP OF STATES AT THE TECHNICAL PREPARATORY MEETING OF THE 2ND MEETING OF ACP MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR ASYLUM, MIGRATION AND MOBILITY ISSUES ACP HOUSE, BRUSSELS (BELGIUM), 27 MAY 2008 Excellencies,
I am sincerely pleased and honoured to welcome you at ACP House for the Technical Preparatory Meeting of the 2nd Meeting of ACP Ministers in Charge of Asylum, Migration and Mobility. I can assure you that the Secretariat is committed to ensure that your Meeting will be successful. In 2006, during the 1st Ministerial Meeting, the ACP Group of States was celebrating its 30th Anniversary. The leaders of our unique Group seized the symbolic opportunity to reiterate their commitment to work towards the common goal of promoting sustainable development and to eradicating poverty in our countries, which remain the core objectives of the ACP Group. There are continuous challenges for developing countries: your mission, today and tomorrow, will be to make sure that issues of Asylum, Migration and Mobility remain central on the development agenda of our countries, and indeed reflected as cross-cutting issues to all the Millennium Development Goals. Ladies and Gentlemen, Population migration and mobility in ACP States is growing faster, with implications far beyond the direct effects of the phenomenon. Our Partners in development are in agreement with the ACP Group that this concrete fact will not recede and that movement of people, forced or voluntary, legal or illegal, will continue to constitute a complex process owing to the impact of history, geography, economic systems, sociological mores and political ideologies. Your countries have been involved in the 1st Global Forum for Migration and Development, which was organized by the Belgian authorities here in Brussels last July 2007. The views of ACP States were taken into consideration in discussing issues related to migration in a positive manner. During your Preparatory Meeting, you will be taking stock of the evolution of the situation at national, regional and international level, analyzing how ACP States can make a difference in the designing of policies to manage migration flows, and you will be instrumental in providing ideas to assist stakeholders in development cooperation to design innovative programmes and projects that will help to materialize the positive nexus between Migration and Development. Ladies and Gentlemen, ACP Governments will be participating in the 2nd Global Forum on Migration and Development to be held in the Philippines in October 2008. I am urging you to take this opportunity to define a common ACP position on Migration and Development that each and every Government will be able to use as an instrument for ensuring that issues that are close to the heart of ACP people, are taken on board within the global framework. The ACP Group of States is considering the issues to be debated at the highest political level, our Heads of States and Government who will be meeting in Accra, Ghana,in October 2008 at the 6th Summit of ACP Heads of State and Government. I can assure you that the conclusion of your meeting will be brought to their attention and that the decisions taken by our Ministers will be followed by action. Ladies and Gentlemen, During your discussions this afternoon, you will be examining, inter alia, the following: - The potential and relevance of a country’s diaspora for its development efforts is increasingly recognized. However, policies facilitating and harnessing their financial and non-financial contributions are needed. New technologies, especially the ICTs are particularly relevant and promising for facilitating diaspora contributions. Your meeting will be looking at ways to increase diaspora’s contribution to the development of ACP States. - Migration caused by Climate change is forced migration that hinders development in at least four ways:
Your Meeting will propose ways to identify suitable, quick and proactive policy responses to both short-term and long-term environmental degradation and climate change. - The concept of “human security” challenges the traditional idea of national security in that it argues that the proper reference for security is the individual and not the state. The Meeting will look at mechanisms aimed at recognising and allowing for migration, (which is an identity construction) while ensuring human security and promoting regional approaches to these issues. Excellencies, By organizing the 2nd Meeting of ACP Ministers in Charge of Asylum, Migration and Mobility, the ACP Group reaffirms its engagement in the development of its people and in particular, the achievement of the MDGs. Before handing the floor to the Chairperson of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors, please allow me to inform you that the joint ACP-EU Council of Ministers, scheduled to take place in Addis-Ababa in June 2008, will also consider the issue of Migration and Mobility. Allow me also to acknowledge the invaluable support the ACP Secretariat received from the European Centre for the Development of Policy Management (ECDPM) and the International Organisation for Migration IOM) in organising the Meeting. Furthermore, let me also acknowledge the following Governments/Organisations/Institutions that have provided background papers and assisted in various ways: -Government of the Philippines; I thank you, and wish you a very fruitful Meeting. Mr. Chairperson of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors, you have the floor.
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