The first Joint Conference on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) on migration and development, organised by the OECD, the European Parliament and the European Commission, was held in Brussels on Thursday 12 February. Parliamentarians and experts from all over the world exchanged views and experiences regarding the impact of migration policies of EU and OECD member states on development in migrants' countries of origin.

The EU devised the ‘Policy Coherence for Development' project in 2005, with the aiming of building synergy between its policies in a number of fields, such as migration, trade, employment and security, and its development objectives. It was recognised that migration has both positive and negative consequences on development. Among the positive impacts are remittances as a major source of national income for migrants' countries of origin, the return of expertise and the role of Diasporas in forging trade and social relations.

The most notable negative impact is ‘brain drain', of which countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean are the primary sufferers. For example, 70% of highly skilled people in the Caribbean work outside their country, and 60% of doctors trained in Ghana practice abroad.  Shortages of doctors and other high qualified workers strain the capacity of many countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals on education and health.

At the conference, Eckhard Deutscher, Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee, stressed that, at this time of global economic and financial crisis, Policy Coherence for Development is more important than ever.  With the economic downturn, remittances have started to slow down or decline.  Migrants also tend to be the first to lose their jobs.

Jean-Pierre Garson, Head of Non-Member Economies and International Migration Division at the OECD, suggested revising the policies aiming to attract high skilled migrants, as they are largely responsible for brain drain, and devising policies to make remittance transfers faster and cheaper and to reduce the obstacles to legal migration.

Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission, concluded by stressing the importance of a global and coordinated approach towards migration. In that respect, he believes that the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, voted in October 2008, will contribute to a better dialogue between migrants' countries of origin and countries of destination.

Source:

• Eurostep