Port Moresby, 06/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - At their meeting in Port Moresby (New Guinea) at the ACP-EU Council, the ministers of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP states) and their EU counterparts discussed immigration in the context of development for the first time, focussing on two aspects, the mobility of human resources and connections between immigration and development. This first joint debate on a topic of common concern confirmed that the problem had become a key element of political dialogue between the EU and the 78 ACP states linked to the EU through the Cotonou Accord (see EUROPE 9204). Both sides recognised the positive contribution immigration could make in terms of exchange of knowledge and getting to know different cultures, and that it would be useful to seek ways of making the best use of the huge potential of the diaspora in terms of helping the countries of origin develop further, better managing the supply and demand of legal workers and the need to combat organised crime and people traffickers. The two sides highlighted the need to work together to prepare for the high level UN conference in New York in September on immigration. In Rabat, Morocco, next month there will be an EU-Africa conference on the same issue.
Stefano Manservisi, Director General of Development at the European Commission, said the policy debate had been useful for the migration and development agenda throughout 2006 and the fact that immigration is seen as a challenge under the EU consensus on the EU's new development policy. He said it would be good if the EU and ACP could present a common position at New York as a good example of cooperation, adding that the ACP group's statement was a step in the right direction because it sets out concrete areas of potential common action. The debate provided the ACP group with an opportunity to submit to the EU a statement adopted in Brussels on 13 April by ACP ministers for immigration, asylum and mobility. Paul M'Bot, minister for security and public order in Congo Brazzaville (the former French colony), introduced the debate by explaining that the meeting had been organised at a time when the international community was recognising that it was no longer possible to analyse the situation at the global level, but was in everyone's interests to take a concrete approach to seeking reliable and sustainable solutions, based on concrete proposals in order to ensure managed management of migration. He said the ACP state group wanted greater consideration of the connection between immigration and development and for the debate to be addressed in a positive manner and focussed on developing countries. He said the Brussels ACP statement translated the ACP group's pledge to deal with the problem of managing immigration and start to actually implement Article 13 of the Cotonou Accord, stipulating that the question of immigration should be the subject of in-depth dialogue under the ACP-EU partnership and the parties agree that partnership implies fair treatment of legal residents from other countries in the country in question, an integration policy aiming to provide immigrants with rights and duties comparable to those of citizens of the country in question, encouraging lack of discrimination in business, social and cultural life and introducing measures to combat racism and xenophobia. The statement's five main chapters (on asylum, immigration and development; immigration and the role of the diaspora in development; immigration and the mobility of human resources; immigration and regional integration and immigration and fighting crime) match the main concerns of both heads of state and civil society in ACP states, who are increasingly concerned at recent events and the ever more security-oriented approach being taken to these issues, explained a minister from Gabon.
The statement notes that a selective approach to immigration by developed countries, including the countries trying to attract skilled workers from ACP states, was a serious danger to the economies and society of ACP states, and called on ACP states to manage the brain drain that was currently depriving th4em of skills and innovation vital for their social and economic development. It also highlights the lack of reliable, harmonised statistics to get a clear idea of the true nature of the question of immigration and therefore establish coherent programmes for managing immigration. Hence the ACP ministers' decision to set up an online immigration monitoring centre to gather independent, contextualised information for comparative analysis and research, explained the minister from Gabon.
Enshrined by the ACP Council of Ministers ahead of the ACP-EU Council in Port Moresby, the Brussels statement is a common ACP platform on how to implement Article 13 of the Cotonou Accord - the EU does not yet have a common position on this.
Each of the EU Member States' representatives who spoke during the debate explained the situation in their country. The Dutch ambassador explained that the Netherlands had had a lot of success since 2004 in combatting the brain drawn by sending highly qualified immigrants to Sudan and Sierra Leone to helping in the rebuilding of their countries. He said the Netherlands backed the internationalising of entrepreneurship to ensure immigrants were able to take up work in their country of origin, adding that immigrants' countries of origin and destination had to recognise their talents. David Gordon-Macleod, British High Commissioner in Papua New Guinea, said it was time to stop seeing immigration as a problem and to remember that bad governance and poverty gave rise to a complex phenomenon. He focussed on positive outcomes for the immigrant in question (getting a better life and new skills) and for the country of origin too in the form of private direct foreign investment. He said that in the absence of any well-managed structure, immigration would become a threat because of people traffickers. He added that the UK would be publishing a manual this year to encourage positive immigration through partnerships. Gordon-Macleod said the United Kingdom was planning to build on the talents of immigrants and ethnic minorities. He said he was in contact with the British expats and had an action plan. Frank Carruet, Belgium's ambassador to Australia, agreed that well-managed immigration provided benefits to all sides, but it had been turned into big business for people traffickers and therefore had to be made more transparent and predictable. He said Belgium wanted to facilitate the transfer of money from expats living in Belgium and the predictable use of this money. He said funding was already available for micro-finance and investment aid, the provisional return of immigrants to their countries of origin to spread the skills they have learned, and the training of immigrants in Belgium. He added that Belgium wanted to help North African countries control their borders. Antonio Bullon Camarasa, of Spain's Permanent Representation to the EU, said services were needed to manage immigration. Spain wants to boost immigration control capacity by introducing one-stop shops for legal immigrants, incentives to return to the country of origin and introducing ways for expats in Spain to send money back to their countries of origin. All these areas may be explored by the ACP partners.