ARTA (Halbeeg News) – Fourth Pan African Forum on Migration (PAFoM IV) was concluded in Djibouti following three days of discussion on free movement of persons.
The 4th Pan African Forum on Migration (PAFOM) in Djibouti under the theme: ‘Harnessing the benefits of Free Movement of persons regime for sustainable development in Africa kicked off on 19th of this month in Djibouti.
Representatives from African Union (AU), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), AU Member States, private sector, academia, parliamentarians, African diaspora community and civil society organizations in Africa have deeply discussed the achievements and challenges of free movement of persons regimes in Africa and examine the urgency to promote effective labour migration governance.
The Pan African Forum on Migration was officially opened by the Prime Minister of Djibouti H.E. Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed who welcomed the participants of the forum on behalf of the government and people of Djibouti. He reiterated the importance of the meeting in order to promote a common understanding of migration issues in the continent.
In her keynote address, the Director of Social Affairs Department Mrs. Cisse Mariamma thanked the Government of Djibouti for hosting the meeting and supporting the participants and guests attending this meeting.
She also thanked AU partners, specifically, IGAD and IOM, who have been very handy in supporting the AU Commission to organise the meeting and for their generous contribution in making this meeting a success.
Member states presenters noted the importance of the cooperation with neighbouring states as key to create stronger border regimes and systems and emphasized that a balanced view of migration is required to increase development and security.
It has been underlined that free movement can help facilitate the transfer of skills and close skill gaps, but skills must be recognized across borders. The importance of data and information was highlighted as essential to help develop evidenced-based labour migration frameworks and policies.
PAFOM provides a platform for African regional institutions and partners to share information on current migration trends, patterns and dynamics, newly emerging issues and reliable migration data at the national, regional and continental level in order to find durable solutions to the migration challenges in Africa.
Its objective is to enhance capacities of the Africa regional frameworks on migration to facilitate intra-regional migration and human mobility, free movement of persons and integrated border management through sharing of knowledge, information, good practices, experiences and lessons learnt.
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