International Leaders Join the UAE at Migration and Development Summit to Call for Cooperation on COVID Recovery Partnerships

Global leaders today have joined the United Arab Emirates to call for international cooperation on recovery efforts to help migrants in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keynote speeches at the opening ceremony of the 13^th Summit of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), which began today and is being hosted by the UAE, focused on the importance of partnerships in reviving economic development in the aftermath of a pandemic that has seen the worldwide movement of people plummet by up to 50 percent this year.

Nasser bin Thani Juma Al Hamli, UAE Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, opened the Summit with a speech that urged the world to come together as one community to tackle urgent priorities.

He said, “Recovering from this pandemic will take a global effort in which we all have a part to play. We must find ways to partner together: government with business and civil society, national administrations with local administrations. Migrants, too, must be empowered to play their role. So many have the skills and the knowledge to help build up, once more, their communities, if they are given the opportunity to do so. I hope that we will all, as a global community, take this opportunity to come together and look for ways to transform the future through innovation and cooperation.”

In particular, the Minister noted that the UAE’s vaccination programme – which has already delivered over 1.8 million vaccinations – is available, at no cost, to residents and citizens alike and called on other countries to follow suit in ensuring free vaccination access.

Luis Gallegos, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Ecuador, the 2019 chair of the GFMD, reminded delegates of the challenges faced by governments over the last twelve months and the human toll of the pandemic. “The force and impact of COVID-19 has had a dramatic impact, of enormous intensity and cost to human lives. Maintaining safe, regular and orderly migration in the face of this has not been an easy task.”

But with vaccinations now becoming available, Minister Al Hamli’s call was echoed by others, including the Director General of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), António Vitorino, who appealed to countries to intensify efforts to make vaccinations available to migrants.

In his speech, Mr Vitorino noted that many governments made significant policy changes over 2020 to accommodate the needs of migrants in the face of the pandemic, including adjusting immigration procedures and finding alternatives to the detention of migrants. But he warned that the pandemic will have long-lasting consequences.

“Recovery”, said Mr Vitorino, “will require ingenuity, openness and the capacity to innovate. We need to devise new policies and measures to ensure global mobility and health and safety are strongly coupled together, while ensuring that no country, and no individuals, are locked out of international travel systems”.

The Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD), Ángel Gurría, noted that although global growth is expected to rise by 4.2% this year and by 3.7% in 2022, the recovery will be only partial from the steep recession of 2021, and that global mobility will not return to previous levels for some time, due to weaker labour demand, travel restrictions and increased remote working.

But, said Mr Gurría, “we must seize the opportunity presented by the COVID-19 pandemic to change our approach to the global challenge of international migration. We need a broad, coherent and comprehensive approach. We need an international migration strategy that can address an array of complex challenges from pre-departure to return migration”.

Ylva Johansson, the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, promised Europe’s financial support to the world to address people smuggling and support training programmes, while expanding migration opportunities to Europe, including to low and medium skilled workers.

Outlining details of a €38 billion European COVID-19 recovery package, as well as €8 billion for migration management and asylum, Ms. Johansson said, “It is my personal mission to build close, strong and mutually-beneficial partnerships. With the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum, we have the tools to build lasting partnerships to manage migration.”

Reflecting the UAE’s focus on regional perspectives, Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organisation of American States, also addressed the opening ceremony. Mr Almagro noted efforts deal with the challenges of displaced people in Latin America resulting from the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis. “Addressing the future of human mobility in the Americas and the rest of the world cannot be solved by a single state”, he said. “This extraordinary endeavour requires a combination of regional and national responses, following the principles of solidarity, shared responsibility and cooperation.”

These speakers were joined in the opening ceremony by Carola Gunnarsson, Lord Mayor of Sala, representing local government, Roberto Suárez Santos, Secretary-General of the International Organisation of Employers, representing business, and Stella Opoku-Owusu, Deputy Director of the African Foundation for Development, representing civil society.

Against the backdrop of the challenges that the world faces, Minister Al Hamli injected a note of optimism. “The UAE welcomes nearly one million new people every year”, he said. “That great flow of people, of every race and every religion, is what sustains us. This year, the UAE turns 50. In less than a lifetime, we have, as diverse people but together as one community, transformed a corner of the Arabian Peninsula into the cross-roads of the world. If you want to see the link between migration and development, look no further than the UAE”.